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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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MISSION SCHOOLS 



INDIA 



FOREIGN MISSIONS, 



WITH SKETCHES OF THE MISSIONS AMONG THE NORTH AMERICAN 

INDIANS, THE SANDWICH ISLANDS, THE ARMENIANS OF 

TURKEY, AND THE NESTORIANS OF PERSIA. 



By Rev. E: G. WILDER, 

M 

FIFTEEN TEARS MISSIONARY OF THE EOARD. 



" Go YK THEREFORE, AND TEACH ALL NATIONS." Matt. 18 : 19. 

" Gather the Children." — Joel 2 : 16. 




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PUBLISHED BY SUBSCRIPTION. 









Ijkur-gorfc : 

A. D. F. RANDOLPH, 683 BROADWAY. 

BOSTON: CROCKER & BREWSTER. 



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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by 

Rev. R. G. WILDER, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 

Southern District of New-York. 



JOHN A. GRAY, 

Printer, Stereotypy and Binder, 

Corner of Frankfort and Jacob Streets, 

fire-proof buildings. 



&0 
[P 



TO THE 

FOR 

FOREIGN MISSIONS; 
THE OBJECT OF UNBOUNDED ADMIRATION IN Mr EARLY LIFE, 

AND OF 

SINCERE AND ABIDING AFFECTION 

DURING ALL THE 

YEARS OF MY MISSIONARY SERVICE; 
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE 

AUTHOR. 



PREFACE 



When I went to India, fifteen years ago, I had no distinct 
views in regard to the different agencies employed in the mis- 
sionary work. When I looked down for the first time from 
the Highlands near the village of Tas, upon the broad and 
fertile plain of Ahmednuggur dotted with beautiful villages, 
the morning sun glancing gloriously from the white domes of 
their numerous temples thronged with idolatrous worshippers, 
the one passion and purpose of my soul was to win as many of 
them as possible to Christ. I knew nothing of " mission poli- 
cy," but our blessed commission. 

A joyful welcome awaited us from our elder brethren, and 
the next day they committed to me the care of the mission 
seminary at Ahmednuggur. They soon added to my duties 
the city free schools, and subsequently the free schools in the 
villages. This system of schools had been devised and pro- 
secuted for many years, and I can claim no credit or responsi- 
bility in regard to its origin or adoption. I engaged in such 
duties as were committed to me. I watched the working and 
results of these schools with increasing interest and much care. 
I observed their special power for good, in accomplishing the 
salvation of souls. I became convinced of the wisdom of my 
brethren who had devised and adopted them. Hence, when 
in 1854, I saw their views wrested or disallowed^ and these 
schools suppressed, I grieved for their loss. 

The question involved in the use of these schools is vital to 
the success of our missionary work. My love for this work 
has led me to prepare this volume, with the earnest hope that 
by helping to right views, it may contribute to our success, 
and the more speedy triumph of the Gospel in India and every 
•lark land. 



Yi PREFACE, 

This work is not designed to be controversial, but historical. 
I have spoken freely of our able Deputation to India, and the 
changes they effected, but only so far as necessary to be true 
to the facts of history. Should any reader, by a bare possibili- 
ty, think I have said too much of the Deputation, let him bear 
in mind that he knows not how inucb I have left unsaid. Let 
him also compare this with the larger volume which the Depu- 
tation published, embodying and enforcing their views and 
the changes they effected in India. 

This volume does not so much represent my own views as 
it does the views of my brethren in the foreign field, and of 
the officers of the American Board. Its chief aim is to gather 
up the most important facts, incidents, and results in the his- 
tory of our mission schools. In doing this it sometimes brings 
to view the discouraging details and patient, persevering toil 
involved in this work of missions, but it also brings to view 
the rich and abundant blessing which God has bestowed upon 
such toil. Many pages will be found to develop the results of 
our schools, in scenes and events as precious and glorious as 
those of the day of Pentecost. 

In my efforts to let facts and the views of others rest on 
their authority rather than mine, and at the same time avoid 
cumbering my page with references and foot-notes, I have used 
frequent quotations. These may have interfered somewhat 
with a forcible style, but if so, it is hoped the ready authority 
they carry will furnish ample compensation. 

Discrepancies and errors in dates may exist ; but so far as 
a most laborious and patient examination of manuscript and 
printed reports and letters from the missions, and of the or- 
gans of the Board, could avail, all errors have been guarded 
against with scrupulous care. 

On the 20th of last December, I was about to engage an 
immediate passage to India. Delayed a few months by an 
event beyond our control, I have sought in this volume to 
make it accrue to the benefit of the cause we love and to 
which we have devoted our lives. Impatient of further delay, 
we now hasten back to our adopted home and field of labor in 
the dark kingdom of Kolapoor. R. G. Wilder. 

New - York, March 4th, 1861. 



CON TENTS. 



PAGE 

Introduction, .11 

CHAPTER I. 

THEORY OF MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Origin and Object of the American Board, 19 

Schools and Oral Preaching one in Aim, 20 

Difficulty of communicating Christian Truth to Heathen Minds, 21 

Views of Dr. Anderson on this point, 22 

Necessity of Schools from the Character of Heathenism, 23 

Schools necessary to procure a Stated Audience, 27 

Value of Curiosity in securing Hearers, 27 

Self-interest the only Controlling Motive, 28 

Available by Furnishing Employment, Medicine, Alms, 23 

Education appeals to the Worthiest Motives and Better Classes, 29 

Schools remove Ignorance and lay Stable Foundations, 30 

Schools conciliate the People, 31 

Practice of European Missionaries, 34 

Views of the Rev. David Green, late Secretary of the Board, 35 

CHAPTER II. 

DIFFERENT KINDS OF MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Testimony of the Rev. D. 0. Allen, D.D., 36 

Schools for Heathen Youth, 38 

Employment of " Heathen Teachers," 40 

Employment of Native Christian Teachers, 44 

Vernacular and English Schools, 46 

Experience of European Missionaries, 48 

Experience of American Missionaries, 49 

Boarding-Schools, 50 

Commendation of all these Schools by the Officers of the Board, 51 

CHAPTER III. 

CHARACTER AND RESULTS OF MISSION SCHOOLS IN OUR BOMBAY MISSION. 

Origin of the American Mission in Bombay, 53 

Gordon Hall's Appeal to the Governor, 53 

Oral Preaching Unsatisfactory, \ 55 

Necessary Resort to Schools, 56 

Gordon Hall's Estimate of the Schools, 58 

Testimony of Hall's Biographer, 60 

Practice of the Missionaries, 61 

Moral Courage of Babajee, 63 

Conversion of Three Heathen Teachers, 65 

Death of Gungah and Babajee, » 67 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Estimate of the Schools by the Board and Missionaries, 68 

Opposition of the Hindus to the Schools, 71 

Approved by the Board, 72 

Facts and Conversions in the History of the Schools, 73 

Influence of the Schools in changing Public Sentiment, 78 

Statistics of Mission Schools in India, in 1851, . 82 

Disastrous Change, 82 

CHAPTER IV. 

HISTORY OF OUR BOMBAY MISSION SCHOOLS CONTINUED. 

Bombay High-School and the Late Deputation, 84 

Cause of the Deputation to India, 85 

United Testimony of all the Missionaries, 86 

Rev. R. W. Hume's Plea for Schools, 86 

Rev. S. B. Fairbank's Plea for Schools, 92 

Rev. George Bowen's Plea for Schools, 98 

Rev. Henry Ballantine's Plea for Schools, 101 

Rev. A Hazen's and L. Bissell's Plea for Schools, 103 

Rev. Messrs. Burgess and Wood's Plea for Schools, 104 

Rev. S. B. Munger's Plea for Schools, 105 

Result of these Pleadings in Boston, 106 

Second Series of Pleadings by all the Missionaries, 107-119 

Commencement and Success of Bombay High-School, 119 

Result of these Second Pleadings in Boston, 120 

How did the Deputation effect their Object, 121 

Absolute Authority of the Deputation, 122 

General Meeting at Ahmednuggur, 123 

Dr. Anderson's Opening Address, 124 

Manner in which Action was secured, 126 

Report on the Bombay Institution, .' 127 

Report committed to Another Chairman and changed, 129 

How was the Report accepted, 129 

Votes for the Employment of "Heathen Teachers," 131 

Suppression of the Bombay Institution, 132 

Results from Schools in this Mission, 133 

Results from Schools in the Scotch Free Church Mission, 135 

Appeal from the Deputation to the Prudential Committee, 136 

Unhappy Results of the Change, 147 

Tabular View of the Schools, 152-3 

Summary of Results, . 154 

Tabular View of the Missionaries of the Bombay Mission, 155-6 

CHAPTER V. 

CHARACTER AND RESULTS OF SCHOOLS IN THE AHMEDNUGGUR MISSION. 

Origin of the Mission, 159 

Prominence given to Schools with Heathen Teachers, 160 

English Schools, 162 

Mission Seminary, 1 63 

Boarding-Schools, . . 165 

Estimate of the Schools by the Missionaries, by the Board, by Europeans, 168-73 

Do Heathen Teachers counteract Christian Instruction ? 174 

The School-Girl and Lord's Prayer, 175 

Pupils throw away Idols, 176 

Conversion of Pupils. Ramkore and her Mother, 177 

Influence of Schools on Adults, . , • 18C 



GONTENTS. IX 

PACK 

Unwise to limit efforts to the Low Castes, 184 

Value of the School at Ncwase, 187 

Conversion of "Heathen Teachers'" — Hurripunt, RamkrisliKapunt, etc.,. 194 

Schools opposed by the Heathen, 206 

Converts from the Seminary — Rama, Yyenkutrao and others, 207 

Change of Policy, disparaging the Schools, 220 

Unhappy Results of breaking up the Schools, 225 

Letter from the Mission Secretary to Dr. Anderson, 228 

Ordination of Native Pastors, . . . . '. 238 

Why were the Schools abandoned ? 2 40 

Tabular View of the Missionaries, 242 

CHAPTER VI. 

SCHOOLS OF THE SATARA AND KOLAPOOR MISSIONS. 
SATARA. 

Schools secure ready access to the people, 245 

Religious Interest in the Schools, 246 

The Schools Disbanded, 247 

Tabular view of the Schools and Missionaries, 250 

KOLAPOOR. 

Description, 251 

Opposition overcome by Schools, 252 

Mrs. Wilder's Account of the City, Temples, and Schools, 253 

Converts and Inquirers — Govind Apa Chowhan, 257 

,,ehools abandoned by the Deputation, 260 

Schools reauthorized by the Prudential Committee, 261 

Outbreak of the Sepoy Mutiny, 263 

The Mission abandoned, 266 

Appeal from the Prudential Committee to the Board, 267 

Reestablishment of the Mission, 2*72 

Testimony of European Friends, 275 

CHAPTER VII. 

SCHOOLS OP THE CEYLON MISSION. 

Description. Origin of the Mission, 283 

Chief interest centres in the Schools, 285 

First Revival in the Schools, 285 

Second Revival in the Schools, 286 

Origin of the Batticotta and Oodooville Seminaries, 287 

Third Revival in the Schools, 288 

Fourth Revival in the Schools, 290 

Fifth and Sixth Revivals in the Schools, 293 

Seventh and Eighth Revivals in the Schools, 294 

Ninth Revival in the Schools, 298 

Conversion of Magee, 298 

Conversion in a Free School 299 

Lamentations on account of Retrenchment, 303 

Father Spaulding's Lament for the Schools suppressed, 309 

Grief of the Board at the loss of the Schools, 310 

Efforts to retrieve the Loss of the Schools, 314 

Tenth Revival in the Schools, 317 

Converting Influence of the Schools, 318 

Success of the Schools in training Native Helpers, 320 



X CONTENTS, 

PAGH 

The Native Church gathered from the Schools, 323 

The Old Heathen Teacher, 325 

Eleventh Revival in the Schools, 329 

Testimony of Rev. Dr. Poor, 330 

The Schools suppressed, 337 

CHAPTER VIII. 

SCHOOLS OF THE MADURA AND MADRAS MISSIONS. 
MADURA. 

Importance of Schools, 340 

The little Girl who would not break the Sabbath, . 346 

The Praying Girl and her Father, 348 

Special Value of the Boarding-Schools, 1 349 

Schools secure " Village Congregations" 352 

A Revival in the Seminary, 354 

Change of Policy and Retrenchment, 355 

MADRAS. 

Chief hopes centre in the Schools, 361 

CHAPTER IX. 

MISSIONS AMONG THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 

Indian Ferocity tamed by the Schools. John Arch, 367 

Conversions in the Schools, . . . , 368 

Revivals in the Schools, 3*70 

CHAPTER X. 

MISSIONS AMONG THE ARMENIANS OF TURKEY. 

Teachers become the first Converts, 373 

The Schools provoke Persecution, 374 

The Schools an Entering- Wedge, 380 

Revivals in the Schools, 382 

Effective Influence of the Schools, 385 

Revival in the Schools in Turkey, , 388 

CHAPTER XI. 

MISSION TO THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 

Origin of the Mission, 394 

Kings, Chiefs, and People learn to read, 395 

Revivals in the Schools, 397 

Value of the Schools, 401 

CHAPTER XII. 

MISSION TO THE NESTORIANS OF PERSIA. 

Schools are the first Effective Agency, 403 

Patriarchs and Priests oppose the Schools, 406 

Secretary and Committee approve of Heathen Teachers, 406 

Revival in the Schools, 408 

Third Revival in the Schools, 411 

Fourth and Fifth Revivals in the Schools, 412 

Sixth Revival in the Schools, 413 

Seventh and Eighth Revivals in the Schools, 414 

Conclusion, 416 



INTRODUCTION. 



Modern Missions have become a fact and a power in the 
world. Their results, for the last fifty years, put to shame 
alike the timid faith of the Church and the scornful predictions 
of the infidel opposer. A recent vigorous writer in India, with 
the fruits of Protestant Missions around him there, and look- 
ing only at their temporal results, very justly remarks : " We 
are tired of listening to nonsense about the small results of 
missionary work, the enormous revenue expended, the inade- 
quate return secured. In the midst of the mighty events now 
passing over Asia, though every throne is rocking, and every 
dynasty crumbling into dust, though the Tartar lords are 
ceasing from the face of the earth, and the great struggle of 
the North and the South seems rapidly approaching, there is 
no event more wonderful than the progress of the mission 
power. Within one poor half-century the unregarded effort 
of a few fanatics, with a ' visionary cobbler' at their head, 
has become the strongest of social levers. If a third of the 
human race are now hi internecine struggle among themselves, 
it is because a missionary instructed a poor Chinese lad sick in 
his hospital." 

This last remark refers to the internal conflict then waging 
in China, the end of which is not yet. 

Our writer might have added, if the degraded islanders of 
the ocean have been raised from their ignorance and pollution 
and blessed with a written language, and with all the arts and 
sciences of civilized life, it is the result of missions. If the vast 
regions of Central Africa are being opened up to the light of 
science and civilization, it is because missionary zeal impels the 
explorer. 

India is the great land of idolaters, and in regard to India, 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

more frequently than elsewhere, have the missionaries been 
reproached for their want of -success. Such cavillers are well 
met by the statements and interrogatories of this writer. " Is 
it nothiDg," he continues, "that one entire race, shortly to 
people an entire province, eagerly embraces Christianity, main- 
tains its own pastors, builds its own churches, and when called 
upon to suffer for the cause, dies calmly with Christ upon its 
lips ? Those who know the Karens, know that they have 
done all this: Is it nothing that at this very moment in the 
jungles of Chota Nagpore, among a race w T ild as our paint- 
ed forefathers, three thousand men have declared their eager- 
ness to be baptized ; that Government with another wild race 
to tame, and that race recently in rebellion, can find no civilizers 
so efficient as Christian Missionaries ? Is it nothing that among 
one of the worst and most degraded populations of Asia, the 
Pariahs of Lower India, 100,000 men have embraced the faith, 
and do, so far as the human eye can see, live according to it ? 
It has been evident for years, to all men with eyes, that the 
old fabric of Hinduism is breaking up. In the Arctic Seas, 
before the ice cracks, a low steady murmur is heard, never 
ceasing, springing no one can tell whence, yet always, in the 
midst of the vague terror it suggests, announcing the approach- 
ing deliverance. The ice has not cracked, but the murmur 
which precedes it is on the air. Who believes in Hinduism ? 
Some few Europeans, the Court of Directors, the British Parlia- 
ment, but certainly not the Hindus. Sutti and widow celibacy 
are abolished. Polygamy is doomed, and what Hindu, know- 
ing all this, raises a hand ? There is no heart left in the creed, 
and though it may exist for generations, as the corpse of Ro- 
man Paganism did, its downfall is assured." 

This utterance was penned in India by an experienced and 
observant mind shortly before the outbreak of the terrible 
Sepoy rebellion of 1857. Does not the fact of that rebellion 
show that he misapprehended in some measure the spirit of 
the Hindus? I think not. On the contrary, the result of that 
rebellion clearly proves that Hinduism has no elements which 
can stand before true science and Christianity ; and that in its 
general import, this prophetic utterance is finding a rapid fill 
Ailment. 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

With reference to the agency in effecting this mighty- 
change, our author continues : " This has been accomplished 
by missionaries, and is not the greatest of their achievements. 
For years their influence and that of the class which supports 
them, has been permeating Indian society. That society is 
consequently utterly changed. The tone of the official world 
has utterly changed. Is this nothing to have achieved ? "We 
have not spoken of souls saved, for we are not writing for reli- 
gious men who know these things without our guidance. We 
address those who will look only at the social aspect of the 
question, and we ask them whether the result does not justify 
the cost ?" 

Now, in properly estimating the results of modern missions, 
we may not, with this writer, limit our vision to the civil and 
social benefits accruing from them. These, in comparison with 
the spiritual results, are as time to eternity, earth to heaven. 
Worldly philanthropists may well rejoice in the civil and social 
changes effected by missions. These changes are every where 
such as to challenge their admiration and merit their cordial 
cooperation in the work. But the crowning glory of missions 
is, that they are God's appointed agency for saving immortal 
souls — for despoiling Satan's kingdom and reestablishing the 
kingdom of Christ. And when we attempt to estimate these 
higher and spiritual results, we are constrained to feel that the 
triumphs of the Gospel in the achievements of modern missions 
eclipse all that is recorded of Apostolic times. 

In confirmation of this view it is sufficient to mention the 
more than 40,000 converts gathered into the Christian Church 
within the last thirty years from the degraded idolaters of the 
Sandwich Islands, or the wonderful reformation now progress- 
ing among the Armenians of Turkey and the Nestorians of 
Persia, or the 50,000 converts won to Christ by the labors of 
our Wesleyan brethren on the Fejee Islands, or the 25,000 
converts gathered into the mission churches, which like so many 
glorious lights begirt the dark continent of Africa, or the 
30,000 or 40,000 natives of India who have broken the adaman- 
tine chains of Hindu idolatry and caste, and now gather with 
us in humble faith and love around the table of the Lord. 

It is well to bear on our minds and in our hearts these tri- 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

umphs of the cross in our own times. They serve to quicken 
our faith in the purpose and promise of God, and to fill our 
souls with adoring gratitude to Him through whose word and 
spirit all has been achieved. " Not unto us, not unto us, O 
Lord, but unto thy name be all the glory." 

But it is not enough to raise peans of thanksgiving for tri- 
umphs already achieved. Before "the kingdoms of this world 
shall become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ," far 
greater victories must be won. While we rejoice over the 
30,000 native communicants who have been gathered into 
the Church of Christ in India, we must remember that some 
200,000,000 of idolaters still remain in that land fast bound in 
the cruel bondage of heathenism — that the true light which has 
risen upon Western Asia and a few of Ocean's Islands, while 
gilding the mountain tops with divine radiance, serves at the 
same time to reveal more clearly the dark regions of hea- 
thenism which still cover the slopes and fill up the valleys of 
islands and continents over three fourths of our habitable 
globe. So that the true soldier of the cross must regard the 
brightest triumphs of the past and present only as a faint ear- 
nest of greater conquests yet to be achieved. The success of 
missions hitherto should only nerve the arm of the Church with 
new faith and courage for more vigorous campaigns, and lead 
her to consecrate every energy to this work intrusted to her 
by divine commission, till the last dark corner of earth glow 
with gospel light, and the heathen be wholly given to Christ 
as his rightful inheritance. 

But, by what agencies is the Church to prosecute this war- 
fare? With what means is she to bring the truth of God to 
bear on pagan minds and hearts ? 

In reply to these inquiries, it would seem to be sufficient to 
point to the agencies she has hitherto employed. Had past 
agencies proved ineffective, we might properly discard them 
and seek for new appliances. But such is not the case. Past 
missionary efforts have been crowned with success which stirs 
the deepest gratitude of every sanctified heart. 

And how has this success been achieved ? " Not by might, 
nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." The word 
and Spirit of God have achieved it all, and these are our only 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

reliance for the future. And here we might rest the case, as- 
sured that no dissenting voice would be heard among the en- 
tire band of Christian laborers. 

But, doubtless, there have been human agents, and these 
have applied various instrumentalities. Oral preaching, 
schools, the press, itineracies, medicine, and other agencies 
have been pressed into the service for evangelizing the nations. 
In all this we might rejoice, leaving Paul to plant and Apollos 
to water, each according to his own judgment and ability, still 
rendering all honor to God who alone giveth the increase. 
But with this, the agents and laborers of some of our missionary 
societies have not been content. Claiming to be convinced of 
the superior efficacy of one or more of those agencies, they not 
only discard the others themselves, but insist that their breth- 
ren shall discard them also. "Were they willing to make their 
convictions a rule for themselves only, all might continue to 
labor harmoniously, having God's glory and the salvation of 
souls for their object, though seeking tocompass this object 
by different agencies for making known and applying God's 
truth. 

But with this these well-meaning agents have not been con- 
tent. They have opposed their convictions to those of their 
brethren equally conscientious, faithful and laborious. They 
have sought to enact regulations which should restrict these 
brethren to the particular agencies which they approve. 

ISTow here is a serious evil — one which opposes a new hin- 
drance, and unless speedily overcome can not fail to retard the 
progress of this blessed work. This evil has recently developed 
itself in the proceedings of the American Board of Commission- 
ers for Foreign Missions. This Board is the oldest and most 
successful of any supported by our American churches. Her 
missionaries are found on the Sandwich Islands, in Micronesia, 
along the coast of China, on Ceylon, that 

" Fairest isle of the ocean, 
Brightest gem of the sea," 

in Southern and Western India, among the Nestorians of Per- 
sia, the Syrians of Mesopotamia, the Arabs of Lebanon, the 
Armenians of Turkey, the dwellers of classic Greece, and at 
different points skirting the dark continent of Africa. 



-16 -INTKQPUCTIOX. 

. For fifty years this Board has conducted missions with a 
measure of success which has brought new glory to God on 
earth, and won a good degree of honor to our American Zion. 
Oral preaching, the press, schools, and itineracies have been 
generally employed in all her missions. In the use of these ap- 
pliances, the agents of the Board at home and abroad seem till 
recently to have been entirely unanimous. Each year the suc- 
cess attending these agencies has developed new cause of praise 
to God, and frequent formal votes of the Board, commending 
the wisdom of her missionaries in devising and applying these 
agencies. In perusing the published records of the Board, it 
is most gratifying to observe the mutual confidence between 
the agents at home and abroad, the unanimity and zeal w T ith 
which these agencies have been applied, and the blessed results 
which have followed in their train. 

But, unhappily, this pleasure was not to be enjoyed without 
interruption. The published records of the Board, for 185 G, 
develop a painful feeling of distrust and dissatisfaction with one 
of the agencies hitherto so unanimously and successfully em- 
ployed in our missions. The value of some of the schools, which 
had been in use from the origin of our missions, is explicitly 
called in question in these records. A Deputation had been 
previously sent to our India missions, and in their published 
Report to the Board, at the special meeting held at Albany, 
March 4, 1856, we find, in their instructions from the Pruden- 
tial Committee, the following paragraphs giving utterance to 
this distrust and dissatisfaction, namely : 

" At present, it is the strong persuasion of the Prudential 
Committee that no school can properly be sustained by the 
funds of the Board, in which the vernacular language is not 
the grand medium of instruction." . . 

" It is time to inquire more earnestly as to the place which 
schools ought to hold in the system of missionary efforts among 
the heathen. And the Deputation is instructed to procure an 
answer, as far as possible, to the inquiry, whether, in general, 
missionary schools should not be restricted to converts and 
stated attendants on preaching, and their children." 

The results of this distrust, and the consequent doings of the 
Deputation, are somewhat known. Mission seminaries were 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

disbanded; common schools with "heathen teachers" were 
interdicted. In one mission more than five hundred children 
and youth, who were daily enjoying faithful instruction in the 
saving truths of the Gospel, were " turned out into the great 
and terrible wilderness of the heathen world," by order of the 
Deputation. 

]S T ow the schools thus interdicted were such as had been in 
use from the origin of our missions ; and the blessing of God 
has rested largely upon them, as the published records of the 
Board abundantly show. The Secretaries and Prudential Com- 
mittee have repeatedly joined with the missionaries in sorrow 
and lamentations and appeals to the churches, in behalf of just 
such schools when disbanded for want of funds. (See Annual 
Report for 1838, pp. 41-43, and Heralds and Reports, passim.) 

With all deference, then, to the judgment of the Deputation, 
and the present officers of the American Board, we must be 
allowed to inquire, should not the propriety of supporting such 
schools have been investigated and settled at a much earlier 
date ? If they were not worthy of support in 1856, how came 
they to be worthy of support in 1850, or during the forty years 
previous to that date ? Will it be said that such schools may 
have been proper at the origin of missions, and not so after 
years of progress ? That agencies may and should be modified 
and adapted to the progress of the work, in a given mission is 
readily conceded. But there were new missions in 1856, as 
well as in 1840 or 1820; and if these schools were proper in 
new missions and old ones too, previous to 1856, how came they 
to be unworthy of support in the new and unbroken regions 
of Hinduism subsequent to that particular date ? 

These inquiries are propounded as well deserving the caudid 
consideration of the officers and patrons of the American Board. 
Has there been a grave mistake in the conduct of our missions 
through all the past history of the Board ? Have the funds of 
the churches been misapplied for the support of schools not 
worthy of patronage ? If the views and doings of our late 
Deputation were correct, how can we avoid the inference that, 
for more than forty years, the funds of the Board, so far as 
used for the support of the different kinds of schools inter- 
dicted by the Deputation, have been misapplied? 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

Nor is it possible to stop here, If the home and foreign 
agents of the Board have made so great a mistake for more 
than forty years, what guarantee can the churches have that 
they are right now ? May not the funds of the Board still be 
misapplied in many other ways at the present time ? Nay, 
may not this very act, suppressing the schools in question, 
prove to be the greatest error hitherto committed ? 

These inquiries deserve the prayerful consideration of all 
who love the cause of missions, and the American Board. We 
leave them here, and turn to review the agencies in which all 
have been so happily united, and which have been so richly 
blessed of God. 

In approving and sustaining the various mission schools of 
the Board, her home and foreign agents have been wonderfully 
harmonious up to a recent date. Is it not probable that to 
their harmonious views and action are to be traced, under God, 
the blessed results of these schools? 

It is believed that if the true theory and practice of the 
officers and missionaries of the Board, in regard to these schools, 
and the blessed results which have attended them, were tho- 
roughly understood by the Christian public, no place for contro- 
versy would remain. That instead of enactments interdicting 
any of these schools, and consequent division and strife, all 
would unite in thanksgiving and praise to God for the signal 
blessing he has bestowed upon this imperfect agency for mak- 
ing known Christ and him crucified to the perishing heathen. 

It is the design of the following pages to develop the educa- 
tional theory and practice of the American Board — the cha- 
racter AND RESULTS OF HER VARIOUS MISSION SCHOOLS. May 

He whose glory among the nations is the great object of the 
American Board and all her agents, enable us to present the 
principles, facts, and results connected with this department 
of mission labor, so that our humble effort may meet with His 
acceptance and prove serviceable in the great and blessed work 
of evangelizing the heathen. 



MISSION SCHOOLS, 



CHAPTER I. 

THEORY OF MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Origin and Object of the American Board. 

The origin of the American Board of Commissioners for For- 
eign Missions dates from trie memorable Association at Brad- 
ford, Mass., June 27th, 1810. The large hearts and broad 
views of its founders are conspicuous in the incipient meas- 
ures adopted, and in nothing more so than in the compre- 
hensive declaration of their purpose in organizing the Board. 
Their first formal resolution on the subject stands recorded 
in the following language, namely : " Yoted, that there be 
instituted by this general Association, a Board of Commis- 
sioners for Foreign Missions, for the purpose of devising ways 
and means, and adopting and prosecuting measures, for pro- 
moting the spread of the Gospel in heathen lands." 

No attempt was made to limit their proposed efforts to 
any particular agencies, and none were interdicted. A wide 
margin was left for all the wisdom and experience that 
might accrue in the progress of the work. 

At a later period, when the " Laws and Eegulations of 
the Board " were more definitely determined, we find their 
object enunciated in the following terms, namely : " The 
object of the Board is, to propagate the Gospel among un- 
evangelized nations and communities, by means of preach' 
ers, catechisis, schoolmasters, and the press." Here schools are 



20 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

distinctly recognized as one of the prominent agencies of 
the Board for propagating the Gospel ; and experience has 
abundantly shown the wise forethought and consideration 
of the venerable founders of the Board in this respect. 
They gave no special prominence to one agency over an- 
other, but left all to be employed in such proportion as the 
experience and judgment of their missionaries should deter- 
mine to be most effective in accomplishing the great work 
to be achieved. 

Schools and Oral Preaching one in Aim. 

The possibility of oral preaching and mission schools ever 
being regarded as antagonistic, seems not to have entered 
the minds of those large-hearted men. The terms " preach- 
ing missionaries," and " educationalists," is an invention of 
modern times, and no less invidious than unfortunate. The 
aim of mission schools and of the oral proclamation of the 
Gospel is ever one and the same". They are never to be 
viewed as having a different object, but as different w T ays 
for accomplishing the same object, each rendering the other 
more effective in accomplishing the great work of evangel- 
izing the heathen. 

Without schools in many parts of the heathen world, the 
preacher could obtain no stated hearers, and even if obtain- 
ed, few among them could read his books or understand his 
message, without frequent and continued repetition — " line 
upon line," and " precept upon precept " — a continuous 
course of instruction which is found in every country to be 
most easily effected by means of a regular system of schools. 

I confess to little sympathy with those over-nice exeget- 
ical speculations which, on the one hand, would limit our 
great commission to the oral proclamation of the Gospel, or 
on the other, to teaching it technically and only in the school- 
room. The w T ork to be done furnishes a sufficient exegesis 
of our Lord's intent, whether we translate his words, " Go, 
preach the Gospel to every creature," or, "Go, teach all na- 
tions" — " Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I 
have commanded you." 



DIFFICULTY OF COMMUNICATING CHRISTIAN TRUTH. 21 



Difficulty of communicating Christian Truth to Heathen Minds. 

That milch repetition and a continuous course of instruc- 
tion is necessary to enlighten and convert the heathen, 
would seem to be obvious from the nature of the human 
mind and the character of those corrupt systems of false 
religion which for many centuries have enthralled and de- 
based their intellects and their hearts. Long-cherished 
views, however erroneous, are not easily eradicated. " Can 
the leopard change his spots ?" Every superstition of the 
heathen has not only acquired the force of habit, but is en- 
trenched and cherished with all the sanctities of religious 
faith and feeling. An empty cask may be soon filled by 
pouring in water ; but if it was filled centuries ago with 
crooked nails and spikes imbedded in cement which both 
rain and sunshine have indurated ever since, a previous pro- 
cess will be necessary before the water can find entrance. 

In regard to the Hindu's state of mind, and the difficulty 
of communicating Christian ideas to him, I am aware the 
rash statement has been made, that " you have the same dif- 
ficulty here [in America] in conveying to one of our people 
the true idea of sin, before he has been taught by the Spirit 
of God, that you have there, [in India.]" But this state- 
ment stands opposed to the combined experience and testi- 
mony of all considerate missionaries ever since the days of 
. the Apostle Paul. Have grossly perverted religious views 
and most debasing practices, all indorsed with the highest 
sanctions of the Hindu Shasters and religion, no demoral- 
izing, corrupting, and searing effect upon the conscience and 
heart of the idolater ? Have we indeed no more difficulty 
in conveying true ideas of God, sin, and holiness to those 
ignorant and depraved minds, into which no one right idea 
on these momentous subjects has ever yet penetrated, than 
to the minds of non-professing men in Christendom, who 
have been trained from childhood under the concentrated 
light and influence of the Gospel and Christian institutions ? 



22 MISSION SCHOOLS. 



Views of the Secretary, Dr. Anderson, on this Point. 

Eev. Dr. Anderson, in his valuable Tract entitled, "La- 
bors and Hindrances of the Missionary," has ably presented 
some of the facts and features of heathenism, which expose 
the very grave error of this statement. He says : " Consi- 
der, again, in how unfavorable a condition heathen com- 
munities are to be operated upon. Generally they are tho- 
roughly sensual, earthly, and selfish ; unaccustomed to be 
influenced by, or to think upon, intellectual or moral sub- 
jects, unused to change, without enterprise, with no mo- 
dels of excellence before them, and little inclined and little 
able to appreciate them when presented ; full of prejudice 
and love of sin. It is difficult to conceive how unlike they 
are to an active-minded, enterprising, progressive commu- 
nity in such a Christian land as this. Public sentiment 
there, instead of being a great motive power in favor of reli- 
gion and morality and social improvement, has become in- 
veterate and consolidated as an almost insurmountable bar- 
rier to any reformatory effort. 

" Consider, again, how slowly religious truth can be com- 
municated to heathen communities ! In addition to their 
not having been trained to think on moral and religious 
subjects generally, and their disinclination to take into their 
minds truths or considerations which interfere with their 
cherished habits, their superstitions, and their love of sin, 
there is a difficulty in the very novelty and strangeness of the 
truths to be taught, and in presenting them so that they 
shall be clearly apprehended, in a language not made nor 
used to convey such ideas. An intelligent missionary states 
that a G-ospel sermon might be preached in the Tamil lan- 
guage, explicit and pointed in every doctrine, and as cor- 
rect and plain as idiom and style could make it, and yet the 
uninstructed Hindu would not get one Christian idea from 
it, but would construe it all in favor of Brahminism. Our 
theological terms, so brief and expressive to a well-instruct- 
ed hearer, are of no use there. The same missionary says 
that with a well-instructed Christian congregation in the 



NECESSITY OF SCHOOLS. 23 

United States, more can be clone by a single sermon to com- 
municate new truths, and carry the bearer forward in Chris- 
tian knowledge, than can be done in a newly -gathered Hindu 
congregation in three months. It is doubtless substantially 
so in every heathen community." . . 

" What time, then, will be required for the missionary to 
eradicate the heathenish errors, detect the heathenish soph- 
istries, and rectify the heathenish and perverse ways of 
thinking which he meets with in his untaught hearers, and 
which they love and cling to because they countenance their 
corrupt passions and habits ? . . Is this the work of a 
year, or of any short period of years ? In the case of a 
Christian child, whom, at the age of two or three years, the 
mother begins to teach the same truths, the object is likely 
to be more speedily and perfectly accomplished." 

Necessity of Schools from the Character of Heathenism, as sketched 
by various Authors. 

That the above view of Dr. Anderson is correct, is ob- 
vious from every portrait of heathenism which has ever 
been sketched by enlightened men. The Eev. Dr. Storrs, 
in his sermon before the Board, in 1850, drew this portrait 
in the following language, namely: "Ignorant of God and 
his law, as well as of their own, and the moral character of 
the world ; content with mental inactivity, and indifferent 
to moral elevation; untaught in the principles of science, 
and fast-bound in errors venerated for their antiquity ; vi- 
cious in their habits, and absorbed in sensual indulgences ; 
accustomed to the profane rites of religions glittering yet 
grovelling, and degrading yet commanding and terrible — 
they are unprepared to listen to the annunciation of glory 
to God in the highest, and to appreciate the Gospel as pro- 
claiming deliverance from the dominion of sin and death. 
They are strange things which are thus brought to their 
ears by men of other lands and a purer faith, claiming the 
authority of that unknown God, 

4 From whom departing, they are lost, and rove 
At random, without honor, hope, or peace ; ' 



2-1: MISSION SCHOOLS. 

and often their thoughts are not to be turned by any amount 
of testimony or argument from their deep-worn channels, 
nor their affections diverted from objects of their earliest 
and devoutest worship. The stupidity of the Hottentot, the 
sensuality of the Hindu, the prejudice of the Mohamme- 
dan, the ancestral pride of the self-styled 'son of heaven,' 
and the sottishness of the South Sea Islander, alike interpose 
a wall high as heaven between the Christian teacher and the 
child of ignorance. . . Paul has described the heathen 
every where, not more graphically than truthfully. He deals 
not in fiction when he portrays them as vain in their imag- 
inations, given up to uncleanness, worshipping the creature 
more than the Creator, fall of envy, murder, debate, deceit and 
malignity. Long and sad experience declares that infernal 
passions dwell in pagan bosoms, triumphing over even the 
great law of self-preservation, dealing out death and de- 
struction to parents and children, driving on wars and fight- 
ings for purposes of rapine and plunder, shedding the blood 
of acknowledged benefactors for gain, and devouring ene- 
mies with the remorseless fierceness of the tiger or ana- 
conda ; and all this in the presence of their gods, and in 
avowed obedience to their behests. Essentially true is this 
of the entire pagan world." 

If, then, these false views, and cruel and wicked practices 
of heathenism are to be supplanted by the pure faith and 
sanctifying power of the Gospel, with what patience and per- 
severing efforts must the missionary be prepared to pros- 
ecute his labors, and what an immense vantage-ground must 
he find in any agency which brings the heathen under stated 
and systematic instruction, and especially in dealing with 
j^outhful minds before they become hopelessly impregnated 
with the false and debasing teachings of their fathers ! 

The Annals of the America?! Board close a dark portrait- 
ure of Hinduism, as follows, namely : 

" The moral condition of Hindu society is what such in- 
fluences could not fail to make it. There is an utter desti- 
tution of moral principle. The population is thoroughly 



NECESSITY OF SCHOOLS. 26 

demoralized ; and vice, thus taught and practised for ;iges, 
has produced both mental and physical imbecility. . . 

" Hinduism has, indeed, a powerful hold upon the great 
mass of the population. Its philosophy and its ethics, its 
superstitions and its worships, are wrought into the entire 
framework of society. The intellect and the heart of every 
man, woman and child, have been thoroughly steeped in 
principles and practices which are utterly opposed to the 
gospel of Christ." 

Similar to this is the testimony of almost every mission- 
ary. The Kev. Myron Winslow, D.D., after some thirty- 
five years of labor among the Hindus, says: "The obsta- 
cles to the missionary work in India are great. There is a 
hereditary priesthood, an ancient and extended literature ; 
immemorial and time-indurated custom ; the iron and ada- 
mantine barrier of caste; a cruel but fascinating supersti- 
tion, controlling every action ; and inconceivable love of 
sin." 

The Eev. Dr. Scudder testifies : " If I were asked to tell 
in one breath what I thought the mightiest present obstacle 
to the onward course of the Gospel in India, I should unhes- 
itatingly say caste. It is a monster that defies description. 
Caste has its hold on every sinew of the Hindu. Its bit- 
terness is diffused through every drop of his blood. Its 
threads are woven into the very texture of his soul. Caste 
,gives form and life and strength to the Hindu religion. 
Hinduism would soon be shivered to atoms if it were not 
for caste. This is Satan's masterpiece. The more I look at 
it, the more I am struck with the cunning of the great De- 
ceiver, in so skillfully forging and so firmly riveting upon 
this people the fetters of caste. No one can conceive of its 
universal power and its malignancy until he comes in con-, 
tact with it. It stands directly in the way of the Gospel, 
like a mountain with immeasurable base and sky-reaching 
summit. . . Have I drawn a dark picture? Yes; but 
it does not approximate to the reality. Gigantic forms of 
error stalk like spectres through the midnight that wraps 



26 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

this land in dismal darkness. Hindrances to the advance- 
ment of the trnth are great. The enemies are mighty and 
subtle. Haughty speech, violent blasphemy, and demoniac 
laughter, rise from every fortress of idolatry, and mingle in 
one great shout of defiance." 

But we may not pursue this subject further. The reader 
is requested to reflect on this picture of heathenism ; to let 
his mind dwell for a little on their deep moral debasement, 
the utter perversion of their intellects and their hearts, and 
see if he does not find here an invincible argument showing 
the necessity of a long and patient course of instruction, sys- 
tematic and persevering efforts to reeducate the heathen mind. 

"With reference to the peculiar elements of Hinduism, and 
the result of right education on Hindu minds, it has been 
well affirmed : " Every person must see that, without neces- 
sarily attacking their religious prejudices in the first in- 
stance, the mere communication to them of just scientific 
views in a popular form, accompanied by that rigorous de- 
monstration which the acute Hindu can intelligently appre- 
ciate, would eventually involve, along with the demolition 
of what they deem heaven-revealed science, complete dis- 
belief in the pretended divinity of their worship. Their 
astronomy and their religion are, in their opinion, equally 
divine, and they stand or fall together. Show them conclu- 
sively the absurdity of the one, and you give an irrevocable 
death-blow to the other." 

The correctness of these sentiments has been tested by 
long years of missionary experience. The nature of the 
human mind and its deep debasement under the influence 
of these corrupt systems of heathenism, furnish abundant 
proof of the wisdom and necessity of schools, and of their 
forming a prominent part of mission plans and labors. That 
the early missionaries and founders of the American Board 
perceived this necessity so readily and clearly, understood it 
so well and adapted their plans and measures to it so. wisely, 
is cause for devout gratitude to God. 

But we may -not dwell longer on the dark features of hea- 
thenism. There are other incidental considerations, more or 



VALUE OF CURIOSITY. 27 

less intimately connected with those already presented, and 
which combine to show the wisdom and value of these mis- 
sion schools. We can only glance at a few of them. 

Schools are necessary to procure a Stated Audience. 

We can not expect the soul-humbling truths of the Gos- 
pel to take effect on minds and hearts so utterly debased, 
unless the heathen can be brought to listen to them, and 
listen repeatedly, till they gain an intelligent understand- 
ing of them. Now, what motive will operate on the mind 
of a heathen to induce him to listen continuously and sta- 
tedly to the preaching of the Gospel ? Can it be a love for 
the truth f This he understands not, and the very fact that 
the missionary comes to teach him a new religion, is a rea- 
son why he regards him with suspicion and distrust, and 
keeps at a distance from him unless some special motive 
draws him. What possible motive can bring the heathen 
to listen to the Gospel except curiosity or self-interest f 

Value of Curiosity. 

Curiosity operates upon all, but with no permanent ef- 
fect. It leads them to wish to see or hear "some new 
thing," but it is soon satisfied, and has no power to secure a 
stated audience in a heathen land. It is most serviceable 
when a missionary travels from village to village on preach- 
ing tours. Curiosity to see a white stranger, and hear what 
new things he may have to say, brings crowds around him 
in every village. But as soon as this curiosity is satisfied, 
the missionary finds himself deserted, and passes on to 
another village. I have no disposition to depreciate this 
kind of labor. Preaching tours serve somewhat to break 
up the fallow ground, and make known to the heathen the 
fact that there is "a more excellent way." But the view 
already presented, precludes the idea that an intelligent and 
saving knowledge of Christian truth can be effectively com- 
municated in so short a time. Preaching tours are preemi- 
nent! v a preparatory work, and will bear no comparison 



28 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

with schools for visible and permanent results. But more 
on this point in the sequel. I mention it here only to illus- 
trate the value of curiosity in gaining the attention of the 
heathen. It must be evident that this principle can never 
be relied on in heathen lands for securing regular and stated 
hearers of the Gospel . 

Self-interest the only controlling Motive. 

The remaining motive is self-interest — the moving princi- 
ple of the unregenerate human heart the world over. But 
is the Christian missionary to avail himself of this bad mo- 
tive? Most unquestionably, with proper limitations. To 
exclude it would be to shut out the heathen from the Gros- 
pel forever. Let any one who would condemn such a course, 
go first and condemn our Saviour for feeding the multitudes 
with loaves and fishes. We may, as Christ did, condemn 
their worldly motive, but, like him, we may gladly avail 
ourselves of the opportunity thus presented for preaching 
the Gospel. 

Why do the heathen attend upon the instruction of the 
missionary at all ? Of spiritual good they can have no ap- 
preciation at first. What motive other than self-interest is 
possible ? This motive is developed in different ways and 
degrees. Some even fancy, at first, that if they will become 
Christians, they will receive large sums of monej^. I have 
known heathen men to come to a missionary and deliberate- 
ly name their price. It is needless to say that in every such 
instance they must be rebuked, and the spiritual nature of 
Christ's kingdom be clearly pointed out. But several ways 
remain in which this principle may properly be made avail- 
able for securing stated hearers among the heathen. 

1. One way is to furnish employment. In the family of the 
missionary, and in his printing-press, if he have one, there 
is occasion for servants and laborers. Though self-interest 
is the ruling motive which induces the heathen to accept 
such service, and come under regulations which require 
them to attend at stated times on Christian instruction, yet 
the missionary may property avail himself of this motive, 



SCHOOLS ATTRACT HIGHER CASTES 29 

and thus secure hearers for his message. But this means of 
obtaining hearers is extremely limited. If the missionary 
can regularly preach the Q-ospel only to those whom he em- 
ploys, what hope can there be for the great mass of the 
heathen ? 

2. Another appliance for securing hearers is medicine. This, 
doubtless, is a legitimate agency, and some are disposed to 
exalt it above all others. It shows a kind regard for the suf- 
fering, and imitates the compassion of Christ in caring both 
for the bodies and souls of men. But of this appliance it is 
enough to say, it avails only iviih the sick and suffering, and, 
in India, chiefly with the lower classes of these. The high- 
er castes, however sick, will seldom take our medicine. And 
shall we restrict our labors to the sick and suffering of the 
lowest classes ? 

3. Alms is another means of securing hearers, and may 
be resorted to with the same propriety as the use of medi- 
cine. Probably there are few missionaries, certainly in In- 
dia, who do not distribute alms to a large number of lame, 
blind, and deaf paupers, and thus secure their attention to 
stated Christian instruction. But will it do for missionaries 
in heathen lands to confine their labors to paupers ? 

The Offer of Education appeals to the "Worthiest Motives and to 
the Better Classes. 

4. Schools, on the other hand, secure hearers from the 
more intelligent and better classes of the heathen communi- 
ty. Most of the heathen world readily manifest some ap- 
preciation of the value of letters. They are aware that a 
knowledge of the common branches of learning will be ser- 
viceable to them in the business of life. They will gladly 
come to the missionary, and listen to his Christian instruc- 
tion, of which, at first, they have no just appreciation, if 
they may only at the same time be gaining that knowledge 
which they do value. In boarding -schools self-interest is 
enlisted still more strongly by means of the food and cloth- 
ing which are famished. But of all the forms in which this 
principle of self-interest develops itself, where is it less ob- 



30 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

jectionable than when it appears in a pure desire for educa- 
tion ? This desire may be rendered available in India to 
almost any extent. Among the Mahrattas of Western India, 
if a missionary will impart the rudiments of true science a 
portion of the time, he may secure any number of intelligent 
young men, who will attend upon his instruction, commit 
to memory the Lord's Prayer, Ten Commandments, Cate- 
chisms, and all the fundamental truths of the Gospel, and, at 
his stated preaching services, listen attentively to the plain- 
est exhibitions of Christian truth. From long experience 
and observation of every agency hitherto employed by 
Christian missionaries, it is my firm conviction that no 
agency is more valuable than this — that no motive which 
can influence the heathen mind is more praiseworthy, or 
can be more properly rendered available for securing their 
attention to the claims of the Gospel than this love of educa- 
tion. A thirst for knowledge is commendable in Christian 
lands. It can not be less so among the heathen. It is gene- 
rally the first hopeful indication among the most ignorant 
and barbarous tribes, and many a missionary longs to 
awaken this desire in the degraded, sensual, and listless 
heathen, for whose spiritual good he labors. 

As a means of securing a stated audience mission schools 
avail, not only with the pupils of the schools, but to a good 
extent with their parents and friends also. These are in- 
terested in their children, and having gathered into the 
school-room, or chapel, to listen to recitations, they not only 
acquire a knowledge of Christianity very effectively from 
this exercise, but when once there, they remain through the 
preaching service, and thus the facilities of the missionary 
for communicating Christian truth are more than doubled 
by means of his schools, even if he could get some hearers 
without them. 

Schools remove Ignorance and lay Stable Foundations. 

To the above consideration must be added the necessity 
of schools for removing the ignorance of the heathen, and 
fitting them to become intelligent and useful members of 



SCHOOLS CONCILIATE TH^ PEOPLE. Si 

society. If the heathen nations could be brought at once to 
profess the Christian faith, and then be left in all their pre- 
sent ignorance, how soon would their Christianity degrade 
into superstitions as vile and debasing as most of those 
which now hold them in bondage ? Instances to illustrate 
this point are not wanting in countries once blessed with the 
light of the Gospel, but now requiring missionaries. Most 
of the Eoman Catholic converts in India furnish an illustra- 
tion on this subject. They have only exchanged one form 
of superstition and error for another. Unable to read, un- 
instructed in true knowledge and science, they know nothing 
of their own faith even, except to worship the images the 
priest directs. I have often met in India bands of these 
native Eomanists, from the province of Goa, and found them 
entirely destitute of any correct idea of their own faith. I 
have asked them why they called themselves Christian, and 
the reply has been, "Because the priest tells us to;" while 
in regard to the saving truths of the Gospel, or even who 
Christ was, or what he had done to save them, their minds 
were a complete blank. Such must not be the case with 
Protestant converts in heathen lands. That Christianity 
may be intelligently understood and embraced, and exert 
an elevating and saving influence on the heart and life, some 
measure of true knowledge and science must ever accompa- 
ny it. The Christian faith is light, and loves light, and out 
of this element it can not exist. 

Schools conciliate the People. 

Again, mission schools are valuable to conciliate the favor 
of the heathen, and convince them that the missionary seeks 
to benefit them. Influenced only by selfish motives them- 
selves, they think the same motives rule all others. They are 
slow to appreciate the benevolence of the missionary, or to 
believe that he seeks their highest good. But when he 
opens free schools, and instructs their children without charge, 
they have positive evidence that he seeks to do them good. 
There is no more ready access to the confidence of a parent 
than by an act of kindness to his child. In all heathen 



$2 n MISSION SCHOOLS. 

communities the missionary is first received with a measure 
of distrust, and no means for winning their confidence have 
been found more effective than mission schools. 

Experience in a New Mission. 

It became my duty and privilege to commence and carry 
on a new Mission in Western India, in an independent na- 
tive state, beyond the limits of British territory, in a region 
Ox Hinduism quite unbroken, and almost unexplored by 
missionaries, even on their hasty preaching tours. The re- 
sult of my experience in this mission may properly find a 
place in this connection. On my first going among them, I 
found the fears and prejudices of the people strongly excit- 
ed against me. . They united their influence, and sent to 
their king an earnest petition praying him to banish me 
from his kingdom. When this petition proved unavailing, 
they adopted a plan of rigid non-intercourse. The Brahman 
priests stood aloof themselves, and admonished the common 
people that certain defilement would ensue if they went near 
the missionary, or had any thing to do with him. All 
efforts to obtain a preaching audience were quite unavailing. 
At length I attempted to establish schools : here, too, the 
priests opposed and threatened to expel from caste any who 
should let their children attend. At length I succeeded in 
employing a Brahman teacher, and he soon persuaded the 
parents of two little boys to let them come to our school. 
The people anxiously watched the result. It soon became 
known that the priests did not and could not put the parents 
out of caste for this oifense. The school gradually increased 
in numbers, and the fears and prejudices of the people sub- 
sided in like proportion. In the course of six or eight 
months, from this small beginning, I found myself in a 
state of friendly intercourse with the people, a good number 
of pupils in my schools, and these with their adult relatives 
attending my stated preaching services. At the end of two 
years, the fears of the people had so far disappeared that my 
schools were crowded with pupils of all castes and ranks, 
from the cottage to the palace ; five youth attending from 



EXPERIENCE IN A NEW MISSION. 33 

the royal family. By means of these schools and the adult 
hearers thus secured, the saving truths of the Gospel have 
been preached to thousands of idolaters who but for the 
schools would never yet have heard them. Besides this, 
hundreds of youth and children in these schools have com- 
mitted to memory Christian catechisms, hymns, portions of 
the word of God, and become thoroughly acquainted with the 
fundamental and saving doctrines of the Grospel. 

Thus my personal experience in mission labor, and a wide 
field of observation in the other missions of Western India, 
have convinced me that such schools are a wise and effect- 
ive agency in prosecuting the missionary work. They com- 
municate true science, and this undermines the errors of 
heathenism ; they inspire and foster a love for true know- 
ledge, and help to overcome the deep debasement of the 
heathen mind and heart. They communicate an elevating 
influence, prepare the heathen to understand and intelli- 
gently embrace Christianity, help to render native Christ- 
ian communities stable, to preserve among them the purity 
of faith and sound doctrine, and a correct Christian practice, 
conciliate the favorable regards of the heathen, and secure 
their attention to the Gospel, furnish an opportunity for the 
uniform and systematic instruction of youth and children in 
the principles of Christianity, appeal to the worthiest motive 
in bringing the heathen under our influence, and a motive 
which operates on the better class of the heathen, and con- 
stitute the best and most effective agency of which the Christ- 
ian missionary can avail himself in heathen lands. 

That . the great body of Hindu youth in India, are pos- 
sessed of so strong a desire for education, and by it are so 
readily brought into mission schools and under Christian 
teaching, is cause for sincere gratitude to God, and of much 
encouragement in prosecuting the w^ork of missions among 
them. Should missionaries in India neglect to avail them- 
selves of this state of things they would prove unfaithful to 
their high trust. 
2* 



34 MISSION SCHOOLS, 

Practice of European Missionaries. 

Well do the missionaries of the Scotch Free Church 
and most other European societies, understand the vantage- 
ground furnished by this state of things, and nobly have 
they availed themselves of it. In the principal cities of the 
three Presidencies of India, they have established large and 
flourishing missionary institutions, and in those of the Free 
Church alone, some five thousand of the better class of Hin- 
du youth are receiving the rudiments of a liberal education, 
and are constantly brought under the influence of system- 
atic Christian instruction. They are thus laying broad and 
deep the foundations of the native Church for generations to 
come, while the number and character of their converts, 
catechists, and preachers, sufficiently attest the wisdom of 
their measures, even for those who can be satisfied only 
with immediate results. What man, in all Christendom or 
the world, has a nobler, choicer field for usefulness in the 
service of Christ, than the venerable Dr. Duff, with some 
fourteen hundred promising Hindu youth daily under his 
Christian teaching and burning eloquence, in the great me- 
tropolis of India ? 

It is fully believed that the views of the early mission- 
aries and officers of the American Board, were no less com- 
prehensive and correct, in regard to this important agency, 
than those of the European missionaries. Some vieWs of 
the present senior Secretary of the American Board, bearing 
on this subject, have already been quoted. Similar senti- 
ments have been placed on record by other officers of the 
Board. Eev. D. Greene, late Secretary of this Board, defin- 
ing what a missionary may properly do to improve the in- 
tellectual and social condition of the heathen, well remarks : 

" 1. He may do whatever will cause Christian truth to 
be most speedily disseminated, and most intelligently em- 
braced. If the people to whom he is sent need schools, he 
may establish and teach them ; if they need school-books, 
he may make them, etc. 

" 2. The missionary may do what will bring the people 



PRACTICE OF EUROPEAN MISSIONARIES. 35 

most speedily and steadily under the influence of the means 
of grace, etc. 

a 3. The missionary may labor to reform what in the 
habits and condition of a people tends to immorality, etc. 

" 4. Those measures which promote the purity and per- 
manent influence of Christianity in a nation, fall within the 
sphere of a missionary's labors. . . Who will dare to say 
that it is not as much a part of Gotfsplan, that science, and lite- 
rature, and the fine arts, and all the useful inventions for facili- 
tating labor and intercourse, shall be carried to their highest point, 
and that the human mind shall Jcnoiv all that it is capable of 
knoiving, and discover all which it is capable of discovering, here 
in this world, as it is that the Gospel shall be every where preach- 
ed and every where triumphant f " 

These brief quotations are worthy of the comprehensive 
views and large heart of their author, and are believed 
faithfully to represent the sentiments of the early mission- 
aries and officers of the American Board on the subject of 
education in mission schools. How well these sentiments 
have been brought into practice, in the past history of the 
Board, will appear in the following pages. 



CHAPTEE II. 

DIFFERENT KINDS OF MISSION SCHOOLS. 
Testimony of the Eev. D. O. Allen, D.D.* 

In accordance with the views already expressed, the mis- 
sionaries of the American Board have fonnd it expedient to 
establish schools more or less extensively in all their mis- 
sions. The Eev. Dr. Allen, who labored as a missionary of 
the American Board some twenty-six years among the Mah- 
rattas of Western India, says: "In commencing their ope- 
rations, missionaries have generally seen the propriety and 
importance of establishing schools. One reason for them is 
to educate the minds of the people, so that they may be 
more capable of understanding and appreciating the facts 
and evidences, the doctrines and duties of the Scriptures. 
Another reason for them is to increase the influence of the 
missionaries with the people, by communicating some ad- 
vantage which they can appreciate, and by showing that 
Christianity rests on an intelligent perception of its doc- 
trines, and contains reasons for the performance of all its 
duties. And another reason for such an education, is in its 
procuring means and opening ways of access to the people, 
and opportunities of preaching to them. One great difficulty 
which missionaries often experience, is in obtaining access 
to the people, in circumstances where Christianity can be 
made the subject of communication or conversation. 

" In such circumstances schools become very important, 
as a means of communication with different classes of people, 
with children and parents, and with men and women. And 

* India, Ancient and Modern. 



Testimony of the rev. d. o. allkx, d.d. 87 

school- houses also become important, as places for becoming 
acquainted with people, for social intercourse and religious 
worship. School-houses become chapels under the control 
of missionaries. Their use for this purpose is often more 
important than for education. These reasons for making 
the education of the common people a part of missionary 
operations/ are stronger in some heathen countries than in 
others, and I believe they can seldom, if ever, be adequately 
and fully appreciated by persons who have not themselves 
lived among a heathen population, and so had opportunities 
for becoming acquainted with their state and character." 

These schools have been of different kinds, according to 
the circumstances and requirements of the case, and the 
judgment of the missionaries. 

Boys 1 schools have usually been found most practicable, 
especially at the commencement of a mission, and most ef- 
fective for accomplishing the objects in view. The heathen 
more readily appreciate the value of education for their 
boys, and such schools are most successful in conciliating 
their favor, and obtaining both the pupils and their parents 
and friends as hearers at preaching services. 

Girls 1 schools find the strongest prejudices of the heathen 
to contend with, and hence have usually been established 
after other schools have succeeded in winning their confi- 
dence, and making them understand the true objects of the 
mission. In most heathen communities, an attempt to estab- 
lish female schools at the outset of the mission, especially 
without doing any thing for the education of the boys, 
would awaken an amount of prejudice and misapprehension 
which would be needless and quite unwise. In Bombay, 
the oldest mission of the American Board, girls' schools 
were not found practicable until some ten years after boys' 
schools were in operation ; and more recently, in one of our 
new missions, the schools having all been interdicted by the 
Deputation, and subsequently the girls' schools being allowed 
to continue temporarily, (in deference to the grief of the lady 
who had them in charge,) it was found expedient to disband 
them also. 



68 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Girls' schools not only fail, in a new mission, to conciliate 
favor and secure hearers, but from the low estimation in 
which women are held in all heathen countries, and from 
the fact tbat no education whatever has heretofore been 
allowed to any of them, except to the dancing-girls of the 
temples, it will be evident at once that any attempt to limit 
our schools to the female sex, would expose a mission to 
much obloquy and misapprehension. 

But it must be admitted that this perverted sentiment 
and practice of the heathen constitutes itself a strong 
argument for including girls' schools among the agencies 
for their moral elevation. Never will any heathen people 
be evangelized till their women are morally and intellec- 
tually elevated. Well has it been said that : " Yain will be 
the attempt to rescue man from the ruin and desolation 
which Hinduism creates, if woman is still left to her cruel 
charities." " Where there exists a low estimate of the 
female character, there will man himself ever be low. 
Where the female, with all her softening influence, so beau- 
tifully fitted for the humanizing of man, and for rendering 
him a social being, is in a degraded condition, and not 
viewed as the companion of her lord, there will man him- 
self be in a low, vile, degraded, and uncivilized state." " It 
is only Christian education which can make woman in India 
what woman is in Christian America and Christian Britain. 
Only Christian education can take the Hindu female out of 
the lowest depths of degradation and sorrow which the 
human mind and heart can know, and elevate her to that 
dignified and blissful sphere for which God created her." 

This subject has been appreciated to a good extent by 
missionaries, and female schools of some kind constitute a 
part of the evangelizing agencies in every well-regulated 
mission. 

Schools for Heathen Youth. 

A second distinction in mission schools is that which 
divides them into schools for heathen children, and schools 
limited to the children of native Christians. Strange to say, 
the propriety of the former has ; by some, been called in 



SCHOOLS FOR HEATHEN YOUTH. 39 

question. But of such we would ask, Is it not for the 
heathen that the missionary is to labor ? Is it not the favor- 
able regard of the heathen which he wishes to conciliate ? 
and heathen men, women and children, whom he desires to 
win as hearers, and bring under the stated teaching and 
influence of the Gospel ? 

At the commencement of a mission, if heathen children 
are excluded, there can be no schools, for there are none 
but heathen children to attend them. The wisdom of such 
exclusion would be much like that of the Greek simpleton, 
who gravely resolved never to touch the water again till he 
had learned to swim. There is no stage in the progress of 
a mission in which schools are so indispensable as at its 
origin. Hence, in many missions, such schools have uni- 
formly been established, and their value has become one of 
the plainest facts of missionary experience. In the progress 
of the work, when a native church and Christian commu- 
nity have been gathered, the propriety of educating the 
Christian children no one calls in question. It is hardly 
possible to over-estimate its importance, in properly laying 
the foundations of Christian society in a heathen land. 

But if such schools are sustained, shall the heathen be ex- 
cluded from them ? On this point there is an honest differ- 
ence of opinion. There are some reasons for isolating the 
children of native Christians in separate schools, but far 
stronger reasons, I think, for educating them in the same 
schools with heathen children. If we maintain separate 
schools for Christian children, we can not keep them se- 
cluded from heathen influences at other times, nor is it 
desirable. We are to seek, not to " take them out of the 
world" of heathenism, but to fortify their moral natures 
with Christian principle, so that they may be able to resist 
the influences of heathenism. Besides, if we exclude heathen 
children, we thus far put the light of the native Christians 
" under a bushel," and exclude the heathen from the very 
teaching and influence which they must have, if they are 
ever to be evangelized. Often the admission of heathen 
children into such schools would involve no additional ex- 



40 MISStOK SCHOOLS. 

pense. The house, once provided, may as well be full ; 
and the teacher, once employed, may as well have full occu- 
pation. The exclusion of heathen children would limit the 
facilities of the missionary for accomplishing his appropriate 
work. 

Employment of " Heathen Teachers." 

A third distinction in mission schools is indicated by the 
character of the teachers. Heathen or unevangelized teachers 
have been employed in most or all of our missions. Of late 
much exception has been taken, in certain quarters, to such 
teachers. The exception is plausible, and perhaps finds 
sympathy, at first thought, with many who love and support 
missions. Some are ready to exclaim : " What, employ 
heathen to teach Christianity I " The very proposition brings 
odium. Bat the reader will kindly bear in mind, that the 
wisest and most devoted officers and missionaries of the 
American Board have sanctioned and employed such teach- 
ers from the very origin of their missions among the hea- 
then. This fact may not be regarded as conclusive evidence 
of the propriety of employing such teachers, but it will at 
least lead candid minds to apprehend that there may be 
some good reasons for so doing, and dispose them to give 
these reasons due consideration. The sound judgments, 
large hearts, and devoted piety of the early officers of the 
Board furnish a strong presumption that they could not 
have sanctioned the employment of such teachers without 
deliberately weighing all the arguments in the case ; and 
the same may be said of the successive missionaries who 
have employed them. The advice of the present senior 
Secretary of the Board on this last point is considerate and 
well expressed. He says : 

" Let the friends of Christ also be exhorted to presume, 
when the missionary comes to a decision or adopts a course 
of measures different from what to them seems to be right, 
that he has done it honestly and prayerfully, and in view 
of what seem to him to be good and sufficient reasons ; and 
let them consider whether it is strange that the opinions of 



EMPLOYMENT OF HEATHEN TEACHERS. 41 

a missionary, formed in the field, with all the facts and re- 
lations of the case before him, should sometimes differ from 
theirs, unacquainted, as they must be, with the facts which 
influenced him, and separated, as they are, from those states 
of society and those scenes, by half the circumference of 
the globe ; and let them also consider whether opinions 
formed by wise and good men at home, relative to the 
internal affairs of the several missions, are, on the whole, 
more likely to be right, than those formed in heathen lands 
by men equally pious, learned, and discreet, having the 
same New Testament to guide them." 

This is well stated, and in the spirit of this paragraph 
will the reader kindly weigh a few of the considerations in 
favor of this class of teachers ? 

1. At the origin of a mission none but heathen teachers are 
procurable. If it be said that Christian teachers should be 
sent with the missionary, my reply is, that hitherto enough 
such have not been sent to meet the wants of our higher 
institutions. Any attempt to supply from Christendom the 
requisite number of teachers for common schools is entirely 
out of the question. Besides, the necessary support of one 
American teacher would be sufficient to supply a dozen or 
more heathen teachers ; so that where one American teacher 
or missionary is employed, it becomes the truest econonry to 
limit his time and labor mainly to the communication of 
Christian instruction, and for the secular instruction to em- 
ploy heathen teachers. 

2. Heathen teachers are more successful in bringing pupils 
and adult hearers under missionary influence and teaching. It 
must ever be borne in mind that one great object of schools 
in a new mission is to remove prejudice, conciliate favor, and 
obtain a hearing for the Gospel. For this purpose a Christ- 
ian teacher would have no advantage over the missionary. 
Even a native Christian teacher is regarded as having be- 
come defiled by breaking his caste, and hence is usually 
looked upon with as much prejudice and dislike as the mis- 
sionary himself. Even in missions of long standing, efforts 
to bring heathen children into schools taught by Christian 



42 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

teachers have often failed entirely ; and whenever heathen 
parents become willing to send their children to such Christ- 
ian teachers, it is properly regarded as an indication of 
marked progress in onr work. 

Much odium has been cast on the employment of heathen 
teachers by a wrong use of terms. The idea which has been 
held up as so preposterous is, the employment of heathen to 
teach Christianity I . This is by no means a proper statement 
of the case. They are employed to teach the secular 
branches, mainly for the purpose of bringing the pupils, 
parents, and teachers themselves under the Christian in- 
struction and influence of the missionary. They are re- 
quired to see that specified catechisms and portions of 
Scripture are committed to memory by their pupils ; but 
for explaining and impressing divine truth upon the minds 
and hearts of both pupils and teachers, the missionary holds 
himself or his Christian assistants responsible; and daily 
thanks God for the precious opportunity afforded by these 
schools for this kind of labor. 

And pray what possible objection to the employment of 
heathen for the purpose here specified ? Why not as proper 
to employ a Brahman to teach heathen children arithmetic, 
as to teach the missionary the language, to copy his MSS. 
for the press, or to set type for printing the Bible ? What 
means for bringing the heathen under the influence of the 
Gospel is safer ? What appeals to and fosters better mo- 
tives in the unsanctified heart ? Nay more, on what agency 
has the blessing of God hitherto more manifestly rested ? 
Let all missionary experience bear testimony. 

Occasionally a heathen man comes to a missionary, claim- 
ing to be an inquirer, and asks for support, that he may 
attend on Christian instruction, and better understand the 
character and claims of the Gospel. Some missionaries 
have thought it proper to support such a man for a time, 
from mission funds, until his character and motives are de- 
veloped. This course may be right, but how much better 
in such case to say to the applicant : " Go into such a village 
or part of the city and gather a school, and I will pay you 



EMPLOYMENT OF HEATHEN" TEACHERS. 43 

wages." If a worthy character, he will gladly avail him- 
self of such an opportunity to earn a support, bring his pupils 
and corne himself to the preaching services of the mission- 
ary, gain a rapid knowledge of Christian truth, and at the 
same time furnish the missionary an opportunity to commun- 
icate Christian instruction more widely among the people by 
means of his school ; and gradually his knowledge will in- 
crease, and his convictions ripen, until he avows his faith in 
Christ. If, on the other hand, he is a worthless character, 
he will decline such a proposition, or perhaps make some 
puny efforts to gather a school, and soon develop his ineffi- 
ciency and selfish motives. In either event the missionary 
is saved from imposition and a useless expenditure of money. 
That such cases of imposition occur should be matter of no 
surprise. There are too many unworthy characters in 
Christian lands to allow duplicity among the heathen to be 
any great marvel. 

3. Heathen teachers while thus employed are often converted. 
It is obvious that teachers, while listening day after day to 
the catechetical and Scripture lessons of their pupils, must be 
in favorable circumstances to gain a knowledge of Christian- 
ity ; and then to this must be added the regular Christian 
instruction which they receive from the missionary. The 
opinion has been expressed that heathen teachers, if em- 
ployed, should have nothing whatever to do with the Scrip- 
ture lessons of their pupils. My experience has led to a 
different view. I would have such teachers take all the ap- 
pointed lessons, and be as responsible for the progress of 
their pupils in the required Scripture lessons, as for their 
progress in secular studies. Enough will still remain for 
the missionary or Christian assistant to do in the way of ex- 
amining, explaining, and enforcing the truth thus taught, 
while there is much to be hoped for from the constant repe- 
tition of these lessons, and the daily action of the truth upon 
the mind of the teacher. I know of many instances in which 
these lessons have resulted, with Cod's blessing, in the con- 
version of the teachers. The oldest and ablest native pastors 

thus converted, and I 



44 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

shall not soon forget the impression upon my mind, as I lis- 
tened to the touching narratives of their Christian experience 
at the time of their ordination. The senior pastor described 
in detail his successful efforts each night after returning to 
his Hindu friends, to throw off his serious impressions, 
which had been induced by these lessons, and the increased 
force with which the same lessons revived those impressions 
the succeeding day, until they became resistless, and led him 
to profess his faith in Christ. 

The objection has been urged to heathen teachers that 
they counteract the Christian instruction of the missionary. 
Such has not been my experience. Among many there may 
be one occasionally thus reckless of his own interest and the 
wishes of his employer, but it is easy to dismiss such an one, 
and employ only those who will be faithful to their duty. 
Strong motives operate upon such teachers, leading them to 
do all they can to please the missionary, and the very ac- 
ceptance of such service is generally regarded by other hea- 
then as evidence that the said teachers are throwing off 
their stricter prejudices, and becoming favorable to Christ- 
ianity. 

But the large number and stable character of the converts 
from this class of teachers is our best argument on this point, 
and no less so as to the propriety of their employment. In 
our Ceylon Mission the conversion of sixty -two pupils and 
eighty teachers is traced directly to these schools, and the 
recent testimony of the Ahmednuggur Mission is : " Our 
native pastors" and u most efficient hoovers were originally 
heathen school-teachers, and in this way were brought under the 
influence of the truth and converted." 

Native Christian Teachers. 

The employment of native Christians as teachers admits of 
but one opinion. Such teachers can not be had at the com- 
mencement of a mission unless brought from abroad, and 
hitherto this has been generally found impracticable, the 
older missions still requiring their educated Christian teach- 
ers in their own service. 



NATIVE CHRISTIAN TEACHERS. 45 

Besides, it must be borne in mind, that if such teachers 
could be procured and taken with the missionary when he 
goes into unexplored regions to commence a new mission, 
the heathen would regard them with no less prejudice and 
dislike than they do the missionary himself; often, indeed, 
they view them with peculiar hatred as having brought re- 
proach upon the religion they have forsaken, and contracted 
deeper defilement than adheres to the foreigner ; so that in 
a new mission the heathen are found less ready to send their 
children to such teachers than to the missionary himself. 

But in the progress of a mission, when a native Christian 
community has been gathered with baptized children to 
educate, or the prejudices of some of their heathen neighbors 
have so far given way that they become willing to send their 
children to such teachers, then surely they should be em- 
ployed. There is a two-fold advantage in so doing. It se- 
cures their most effective assistance in prosecuting the mis- 
sion work, and at the same time proves a means of support 
and of valuable discipline to the native convert. Their as- 
sistance in the work is the first object, and all other con- 
siderations should yield to this. With equal education, and 
with pupils who will attend their schools, they are much to 
be preferred to heathen teachers from their comparative fit- 
ness to explain and enforce Christian truth. 

And then, most natives on becoming Christians have no 
means of support — not perhaps because they are deprived 
of their inheritance, for in India the civil rights of native 
converts are now secured by legal enactments — but because 
they are generally from the poorer classes of the people, and 
if dependent on heathen relatives are cast off, and if prose- 
cuting some little business, are often obliged to abandon it 
or do acts which violate their enlightened consciences. So 
that it often becomes desirable to furnish such converts some 
means of support, and in most missions they can be rendered 
serviceable in no way so well as in teaching schools. 

Again, if brought into regular habits and active service as 
teachers, the discipline is very valuable in rendering them 
Stable, active, and useful members of the native church, in 



46 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

giving them character and fitting them for higher posts of 
usefulness in the mission. It is a question whether native 
converts should be employed as assistants unless they have 
education and capacity sufficient to teach at least the rudi- 
ments of their own language. When this is not the case, 
and they are employed only to converse with people at 
large on the subject of Christianity, their active habits 
seldom improve, and their office is soon looked upon as a 
sinecure by their heathen neighbors, and often by the other 
native Christians. Whereas, teaching is visible and actual 
service, and in my own experience and observation native 
converts thus brought into regular and active habits as 
teachers will effect more to make known the truth to others 
by voluntary efforts out of school-hours, than those above 
alluded to who do not teach at all. 

It is evident, then, that there are many and valid reasons 
for the employment of native converts as teachers. The 
points to be vigilantly guarded by the missionary are, that 
no convert be employed merely for giving him a support ; no 
one who is wanting in education or capacity ; and that no 
one when employed have too light duty — too few pupils to 
occupy his time and tax his abilities. This last danger is 
most common when such teachers are employed in villages 
at a distance from the missionary, for the sake of two or 
three Christian families whose children become irregular in 
attendance, or are kept at home by their parents for months 
together, it may be, as in harvest-time, the teacher still re- 
ceiving his pay while he performs no actual service. 

Vernacular and English Schools. 

A fourth distinction in mission schools classifies them as 
vernacular and English schools. By vernacular are generally 
meant the/ree schools which missionaries have found it ex- 
pedient to establish for teaching the common branches of 
study, and imparting Christian instruction in the language 
of the different heathen people among whom they labor. 

For these schools all the arguments apply which can be 
urged in favor of a good system of common schools in a 



VERNACULAR AND ENGLISH SCHOOLS. 47 

Christian land, and to these mnst be superadded their value 
in removing heathen prejudices, scientific errors and debas- 
ing ignorance, in conciliating the heathen, and bringing 
them to listen to the Gospel, and, in fine, all those consider- 
ations mentioned above in speaking of heathen and Christ- 
ian teachers. 

But vernacular teaching is not confined to this class of 
schools. Vernacular studies form a prominent department 
in most of the higher schools and seminaries in which Eng- 
lish, also is taught ; and doubtless this characteristic obtains 
in all our most valuable missionary institutions. 

By English schools, then, are not meant those only in 
which all study and teaching are restricted to the English 
language. A few such there may be; but most English 
schools have a vernacular department, and some only teach 
English as one branch of study, in the same manner as 
Latin or Greek is taught in European and American institu- 
tions. Such was the case in the late Mission Seminary at 
Ahmednuggar. As to the utility and expediency of these 
English schools in our missions, time and space will here 
allow but a brief reference to a few of the considerations 
which have influenced the minds of those who have estab- 
lished and conducted them. 

1. They have found in heathen youth an earnest desire to 
acquire a knowledge of English, and hence English schools 
have proved most effective in bringing the higher and better 
classes under the influence of the missionary and of the 
Gospel. 

2. The English language unlocks the treasures of "Western 
science, and thus becomes a most effective agent in over- 
throwing the false systems of heathenism which always 
combine scientific and theological errors in their sacred 
books. 

3. The English language unlocks the treasures of theo- 
logy and scripture exegesis, and is very desirable and useful 
in training a native ministry. 

4. Native preachers should have access to the English, 
language and all its Christian science and literature, and 



43 MISSION SCHOOLS, 

avail themselves of these in Christianizing their own lan- 
guage and creating a vernacular Christian literature. 

5. In India and some other countries, so strong is the 
desire for a knowledge of English that such institutions 
become necessary in a mission in order to retain its more 
intelligent and valuable converts in service, who otherwise 
seek connections with other missions where they can enjoy 
the advantage of such institutions, or resort to government 
schools with great risk to 'their Christian character and use- 
fulness. These and other considerations have usually been 
found sufficiently cogent to lead to the establishment of 
English schools in most or all the missions of the American 
Board. 

Among missionaries in India there is almost a universal 
opinion that such schools are one of the most efficient means 
for bringing the higher castes under the influence of the Gos- 
pel and leading to their conversion. 

Experience of European Missionaries. 

The results of such schools in the Scotch Free Church 
Mission furnish very satisfactory evidence on this point. 
In their mission at Madras were recently reported 2250 
pupils in their English schools — the pupils being of every 
caste from the highest to the lowest. In giving a summary 
of results the missionaries say: "The native Christian con- 
gregation -at Madras is mainly the fruit of teaching and 
preaching in the schools. ... It has increased since 
1841 from three Hindu young men, as first fruits, to up- 
wards of one hundred converts, male and female, of whom 
more than sixty are communicants. A large proportion of 
this number were brought into the church from respectable 
caste families at Madras and the branch schools. . . . 
Many of the converts are well educated, some of them highly 
so, and maintain themselves as teachers, catechists, writers, 
and medical pupils. They are almost all able, as well males 
as females, to speak English, and to read and understand 
books and discourses in it, in addition to knowing their own 
tongues, . . . Besides the three ordained native mis 



EXPERIENCE OF AMERICAN MISSIONARIES. 49 

sionaries, a band of ten students arc preparing for the 
ministry." 

Mention is also made of some ten students who had re- 
ceived their first impressions and convictions of the truth in 
those English schools, and who had subsequently been bap- 
tized in other missions. 

In mentioning other collateral results it is further stated 
that "the mission has been honored to give a great impulse 
to native education, male and female. It has sent forth not 
a few well-educated young men to conduct and assist in 
Christian schools, and to set agoing among the Hindu com- 
munity schools of their own, both for males and females. 
Above all, it has been privileged to imbue with the leaven 
of God's word many thousands of Hindu youths, and hun- 
dreds of Mohammedans, and has thus been paving the way 
for greater triumphs of the Gospel in the day of the Lord's 
power." 

The experience of the London Missionary Society is much 
in point. They commenced a vernacular seminary at Ban- 
galore for training native converts for the ministry, and for 
many years restricted all their labors very much to the 
native languages. But failing to secure a well-qualified 
native ministry, they have lately established an English 
High School at Madras which now contains more than four 
hundred youths. They have also English schools at Bel- 
lary, Belgaum, and all their larger stations. 

The results in the Scotch Missions at Calcutta and Bom- 
bay are much the same as at Madras. 

Experience of American Missionaries. 

Eev. Dr. WinsloAV, speaking of the schools of his own 
Mission at Madras, very appropriately remarks : " Four 
young men, baptized while in the English school, in which 
three of them are now teaching, the other being an assistant 
catechist, and four more, at least, who received in it good 
impressions and have since been baptized elsewhere, are 
witnesses that the great Master does not wholly disapprove 
of this form of. labor.'' 

4 •-— - - - ■ ■ 



50 MrSSICXN" SCHOOLS. 

Daring the six years the English Seminary at Ahmednug- 
gur was under my supervision, ten young men of its most 
promising students were hopefully converted and brought 
into the Church. Eight or ten more have been brought in 
since. 

The results of English schools in the Ceylon Mission are 
equally conclusive, as will appear in the sequel. So that 
from the widest observation of the facts, as well as from the 
arguments of the case, we are constrained to feel that these 
schools bear the seal of God's approval ; that in his Provi- 
dence they become a very effective agency for bringing 
Christian truth in contact with the minds and hearts of the 
better classes of the heathen, and leading to their conversion 
— an agency valuable also in training an efficient native 
ministry, and one which missionaries, especially in India, 
can not neglect to use without proving unfaithful to their 
sacred trust. 

Boarding-Schools. 

Boarding-schools have been found expedient and useful 
in most or all the missions of the American Board. Such 
schools are found desirable in Christian lands, and in addi- 
tion to the arguments in favor of them here, some of the 
considerations which have led to their use in the missions 
are as follows : 

1. Boarding-schools isolate children and youth from the 
constant influence of heathen parents and friends. 

2. They relieve the pupils from the necessity of daily per- 
forming idol worship, and from the interruptions caused by 
frequent heathen festivals, pilgrimages, etc., so that their 
progress in study and Christian knowledge becomes more 
rapid and hopeful. 

3. Boarding-schools furnish the best facilities for training 
native teachers, catechists, and preachers, who generally can 
not give their time to study unless supported. 

4. The food and clothing furnished operates as an addi- 
tional inducement for bringing pupils under Christian in- 
struction. This argument is valid only so far as the bare 
offer of instruction fails to draw pupils in sufficient numbers, 
or those of the class desired. 



BOARDING-SCHOOLS. 51 

5. When the pupils of different castes are required to sit 
and eat together, these schools become a very effective 
agency in breaking up caste distinctions. 

6. They furnish facilities for educating orphans and indi- 
gent pupils, when desirable, and an asylum for young con- 
verts when obliged to seek protection from the persecution 
of heathen relatives. Each of these arguments admits of in- 
definite expansion and a large induction of facts and results. 

In one such school for girls in our Ceylon Mission, out 
of 222 girls — the whole number received into the school up 
to a given date — 175 became members of the church. In 
the principal male boarding-school of the same mission, out 
of 670 pupils, (the whole number,) 352 were hopefully con- 
verted and received into the Christian church. From facts 
like these, it would seem that these schools prove very use- 
ful and effective, even if viewed only as converting agencies. 

Of all the various schools here described it should be 
remarked : 

1. They have been in general use in the missions of the 
American Board from its origin. 

2. The boarding character of some, the use of the English 
language, and the employment of heathen teachers, have been 
with the full knowledge and sanction of the officers of the 
Board. 

3. In regard to those missions in which boarding-schools, 
English schools, and heathen teachers have been most ex- 
tensively employed, frequent reports and resolutions have 
been adopted at the annual meetings of the Board, approving 
these schools, and complimenting the missionaries for their 
wisdom in devising and adopting, and their efficiency in 
conducting them. So that if these schools have proved a 
failure and entail discredit, this must be shared in common 
by the Board, its officers, and missionaries. But if results 
show that they bear the seal of God's approval and blessing, 
then we will all unite in ascribing glory to Him who conde- 
scends to use such imperfect human agencies in effecting 
results so lasting and glorious. 

In attempting to bring to view the results of these schools 



52 MISSION SCHOOLS, 

it must be borne in mind that they have a collateral and far- 
reaching influence, securing results which can never be cor- 
rectly estimated in this world. But there are other more 
immediate results, particularly the conversion of pupils and 
teachers, and the training of native helpers and preachers, 
which are more visible, and admit of little or no difference 
of opinion. These results it will be the object of the follow- 
ing pages to present with all possible accuracy and brevity. 



CHAPTER III. 

CHARACTER AND RESULTS OF MISSION SCHOOLS IN OUR 
BOMBAY MISSION. 

Origin of the American Mission in Bombay. 

The attempts of the first missionaries of the American 
Board to establish missions in India, their arrival in Calcut- 
ta, their prohibition and banishment by the government of 
the Hon. East India Company, their dispersion to Burmah, 
Ceylon, and the Isle of France, where still rest the remains 
of the beloved Harriet Newell, the first martyr in modern 
missions, their heroic courage and endurance in "hoping 
against hope," and persisting in efforts despite opposition 
and defeat, their subsequent arrival in Bombay, and the re- 
newed order of government for transportation to England, 
their escape to Cochin, their arrest, reconveyance to Bombay, 
and long detention under government surveillance, their 
earnest and touching appeals to be allowed to remain and 
preach the Gospel to his heathen subjects, and their ultimate 
success in gaining a foothold there — these facts must ever 
form a memorable page in the annals of modern missions, 
and especially of the American Board. 

Gordon Hall's Appeal to the Governor of Bombay. 

Their final appeal to Sir Evan Napean, then Governor of 
Bombay, is worthy of the most devoted martyrs who have 
ever lived, suffered, or died in the cause of Christ. It closes 
in the following language, namely : 

" We most earnestly entreat you not to send us away 
from these heathen. We entreat you by the high probabil- 



54 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

ity that an official permission from the supreme government, 
for us to remain here, will shortly be received, and that 
something more general, and to the same effect, will soon 
arrive from. England; we entreat you by the time and 
money already expended on our mission, and by the Christ- 
ian hopes and prayers attending it, not utterly to defeat its 
pious object by sending us from the country. We entreat 
you by the spiritual miseries of the heathen, who are daily 
perishing before your eyes, and under your Excellency's 
government, not to prevent us from preaching Christ to 
them. We entreat you by the blood of Jesus, which he 
shed to redeem them; as ministers of Him who has all 
power in heaven and on earth, and who, with his farewell 
and ascending voice, commanded his ministers to go and 
teach all nations, we entreat you not to prohibit us from 
teaching these heathens. By all the principles of our holy 
religion, by which you hope to be saved, we entreat you not 
to hinder us from preaching this same religion to these 
perishing idolaters. By all the solemnities of the judgment- 
day, when your Excellency must meet your heathen sub- 
jects before God's tribunal, we entreat you not to hinder us 
from preaching to them that Gospel which is able to prepare 
them as well as you for that awful day. By all the dread 
of being found in the catalogue of those who persecute the 
Church of God, and resist the salvation of men, we entreat 
your Excellency not to oppose the prayers and efforts of the 
Church, by sending back those whom the Church has sent 
forth in the name of the Lord, to preach his Gospel among 
the heathen ; and we earnestly beseech Almighty God to 
prevent such an act, and now and ever to guide your Ex- 
cellency in that way which shall be most pleasing in his 
sight. 

" But should your Excellency finally disregard the con- 
siderations we have presented, should we be compelled to 
leave this land, we can only say, Adieu, till we meet you 
face to face at God's tribunal." 

Here breathed the spirit of earnest, devoted, and God- 
fearing men, and well has it been remarked, that: " Nothing 



ORAL PREACHING UNSATISFACTORY. 55 

but the consciousness of the high spirituality of their object, 
and the impossibility of connecting it with questions of a 
secular nature, imparted boldness to our brethren to make 
this appeal, and gave it favor and efficiency in the high 
places of power." 

Oral Preaching Unsatisfactory. 

And it should be further remarked that these were the 
men, thus deeply impressed with the high spirituality of 
their object and labors, who first found it necessary to resort 
to schools for heathen children, and employed "heathen 
teachers" in prosecuting their work. 

Messrs. Hall and Nott arrived at Bombay on the 11th of 
February, 1813, and from this time dates the origin of the 
Bombay Mission, the first and oldest mission of the Ameri- 
can Board. Mr. Newell joined them on the 7th of March, 
1814. From ignorance of the language, and the peculiar 
embarrassments arising from the opposition and restraints of 
government, it is evident little missionary labor can have 
been effected in those first years of the mission. 

Near the close of 1814, we find on record that they 
preached in English every Sabbath, in the quarters which 
had been assigned them by government, " and also at an- 
other place a short distance from the town," and they "had 
opened a school, which they hoped would in the end become 
a boarding-school of considerable importance to the mis- 
sion." 

Of their labor sin 1815 we find the following record : 

" They had acquired such familiarity with the Mahratta 
language that they were able to commence their great work 
of preaching the Gospel to the heathen. But the reader 
must not imagine that the heathen came by hundreds on the 
Sabbath to hear them, and listened attentively, like a Christ- 
ian congregation, to sermons half an hour or an hour long. 
Instead of this, they had no stated congregation of heathen 
hearers. They were obliged to go to the temples, the mar- 
kets, and other places of public resort, and converse with 
such as would hear them," 



pO MISSION SCHOOLS. 



Necessary Resort to Schools. 

This impossibility of gathering a stated audience by 
preaching, forced upon the attention of these devoted men 
the expediency and necessity of schools as a means of coming 
in contact with the people, and gaining their attention to 
the truth. Hence, in the same paragraph with the above 
extract we find recorded : " They made such efforts as their 
means allowed for the education of heathen children, and 
strongly recommend this department of labor to the Board." 

At this stage of the mission their schools were wholly for 
heathen children, and they could employ none but heathen 
teachers. That they became so strongly impressed with the 
value of these schools is deserving of special notice, as also 
the reasons for this impression. That they were earnest 
and persevering in efforts to preach to the people in their 
temples, streets, bazaars, and elsewhere, is abundantly evi- 
dent from the history of their labors, and especially from 
their private journals. The following brief extracts from 
the journal of Gordon Hall illustrate this point, and serve 
to show that their estimate of these schools arose from no 
p re-formed theory, but from their daily experience : 

"November 19, 1815, Lord's day.— In the morning I spoke 
in four different places, to about seventy persons. In one 
of the places, where I had not been before, read a tract and 
addressed about twenty. At Boleshwur, a famous temple, a 
Brahman expressed great indignation, threatened, and told 
me I should not come there. In the afternoon I spoke in 
another place, where I had not before been, to about twen- 
ty ; also in four other places. At Momadave, a place cele- 
brated for temples, and the resort of Hindu worshippers, I 
held a long discussion with some Brahmans, in the midst 
of sixty or seventy people. . . Have spoken in all to 
about two hundred this day." 

''Monday, 20. — I have spoken in six different places, and 
in all to more than one hundred persons to-day. . . Part 
of the time a few mocked and were noisy. It is one part 
of a missionary's trials, rightly to bear the impertinence 



NECESSARY RESORT TO SCHOOLS. 57 

contradictions, insolence and reproaches of men who are 
sunk to the lowest degradation, both mental and moral." 

" Tuesday, 21. — To-day I have spoken in several places 
to about one hundred persons. - Six or eight of them were 
Jews. In one place I addressed a considerable number in 
front of a large temple, where a woman was fulfilling a vow 
to her idol, by giving it half-a dozen small lamps, ghee, 
cocoa-nuts, rice and flowers, etc. . . As I proceeded, 
some agitation arose among the people; and one or two 
cried out : ' Come away from him ; come away.' . . One, 
blustering up, said to* me : ' How many months have you 
been preaching to these people, and nobody has regarded 
you?'" 

" Wednesday, 22. — Walked out as usual at four o'clock 
P.M., and spoke to about one hundred and twenty people ; 

. . At another place where I addressed the people, 
there were several hundreds of wooden gods under one 
small shed, which served as a temple. Here scores of sheep 
are at some seasons offered in sacrifice to these wooden 
gods." 

" Thursday, 23. — To-day have spoken in five or six places 
to about one hundred of the heathen. I saw a man drag- 
ging out of a house a woman by her hair, whom I supposed 
to be his wife. Similar instances of abuse almost daily 
occur." 

' ; Friday, 24. — To-day have spoken in several places, to 
more than one hundred people." 

" Saturday, 25. — This day addressed about seventy per- 
sons, and in the course of the past week have spoken to 
more than eight hundred persons. Blessed be God for the 
privilege ! . . But alas! when I fix my eyes only on the 
people, all is dark as night. . . Thousands have heard from 
our lips the tidings of the Gospel, and many more are still 
hearing them from day to day. But alas ! so far as we can 
see, all seems to be as the seed that fell by the wayside." 

Here is a week's experience of one of the first and most 
devoted missionaries of the American Board, in efforts to 
bring heathen under the influence of the Gospel without 



58 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

schools. He was in the populous city of Bombay, where 
by going to different localities he might seldom or never fail 
of an irregular audience. But such hearers did not satisfy 
him. He saw no clear and permanent impression made on 
their minds and hearts. He saw that the more frequently 
he went among them, the more were they inclined to disre- 
gard and abuse him ; and though ready to persevere in this 
kind of labor, and endure any amount of contradiction, 
insolence and abuse, yet he longed to bring some under stated 
and regular Christian instruction. Hence originated the 
schools with heathen teachers, as the only effective agency for 
securing this object. 

1816. — At the close of 1816, "their journal states that 
during the greater part of the year, nearly three hundred 
heathen boys had been receiving instruction under their 
care." 

1817. — In the annals of this mission for 1817, we find 
that "two new schools had been opened, making six in all, 
having four hundred pupils on their lists." 

In 1818 two new schools were established on the conti- 
nent, and "the schools on the island of Bombay continued 
to increase. In April there were eleven, having six hun- 
dred regular attendants, and as many more who attended 
irregularly. At the end of the year the number of schools 
was fourteen. . . Though the teachers were all heathen, 
the mission prescribed the course of study, so that instruc- 
tion in heathenism was excluded, and much scriptural truth 
and morality inculcated. Thus they were raising up a gen- 
eration who would not be the slaves of Hindu habits of 
thought, and who could better appreciate the claims of a 
pure morality and of evangelical truth." 

Gordon Hall's Estimate of these Schools. 

Deeply devoted as Hall was to the spiritual object of the 
mission, experience soon taught him that these schools were 
his most effective agency. He therefore devoted time to the 
preparation of school-books. There is still extant and much 
in use in Western India, a volume prepared by him to assist 



GORDON HALL'S ESTIMATE OF THESE SCHOOLS. 59 

natives in acquiring the English language. Thus did he 
seek, in every proper way, to bring the heathen under his 
influence. It was after seven years' experience that he wrote 
to his much venerated teacher, the Rev. Dr. Porter, of An- 
dover, as follows, namely : 

" Native schools and the School -Book Society are among 
the most promising objects in that region, [Madras.] Those 
books which the Society is now translating and printing, in 
the rudiments of general science, will prove a powerful 
auxiliary in the propagation of gospel truth. Our mission, 
without any very great expense, might do much in the same 
way. All our exertions in the way of schools and school- 
books, are attended with much encouragement." And again 
he writes : " The schools continue to prosper. Our funds 
for the last six months have not allowed us to open any new 
ones, though we have had many pressing calls to do so. 
This is greatly to be lamented. The business of schooling 
among the natives is every day becoming more and more 
interesting, promising and popular." 

Such became the experience and conviction of this de- 
voted missionary, of whom it has been fitly testified : " But 
few men have possessed minds more comprehensive and 
better balanced in regard to the great work of evangelizing 
the world than Mr. Hall." 

1819. — "In August five new schools had been established. 
During the remainder of the year they received frequent 
applications from the natives to establish schools, but they 
could not be opened for the want of funds. The education 
of native children in the families of the missionaries, to any 
considerable extent, proved impracticable, from the impos- 
sibility of procuring pupils." 

1820. — " At the close of this year the mission had twen- 
ty-one schools, containing about 1050 scholars, who were 
learning to understand and respect Christianity." 

So much had these schools extended, and so effective were 
they in making known Christian truth, that the Hon. Mount- 
stuart Elphinstone, then Governor of Bombay, though ap- 
proving the general object of the schools, . " feared that too 



60 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

rapid advances would be made against the prejudices of the 
natives." 

These schools became centres of light, not only to the 
pupils, but through them to their parents and adult friends ; 
for the acquisitions at school were sure to be repeated at 
home, and furnish subjects for much conversation among 
the people. Besides, many of the parents and friends were 
attracted to the school - rooms, and there listened to the 
Christian lessons of the pupils, and the preaching of the 
missionary. 

Testimony of Mr. Hall's Biographer. 

In regard to these schools, we find Gordon Hall's intelli- 
gent biographer and fellow-laborer giving testimony as fol- 
lows: "The opportunity which these schools afford the 
missionaries of communicating religious instruction not 
only to the children, but to their parents and friends, is wor- 
thy of special attention. The school-rooms are, in fact, cha- 
pels, where the missionaries preach the Gospel to the whole 
neighborhood, who usually assemble whenever the school is 
visited by the missionary. Besides, not only the scholars, 
but their parents and friends manifest a warm attachment to 
the mission ; and in this way the mission acquires an influ- 
ence which it could obtain by no other means. Several 
years may indeed elapse before we shall hear much of the 
good effects of these schools ; but it is impossible that child- 
ren thus educated, should ever become bigoted pagans ; 
and there is reason to hope that the Gospel, in which they 
are so fully instructed, will by and by take hold of their 
hearts. It is but reasonable to expect that when these boys, 
thus educated, shall become men, and take an active part on 
the stage of life, their influence will be extensively felt as 
teachers of schools, and in other departments of life." 

I am happy to bear witness that this expectation has not 
been disappointed. Thirty years have passed away since 
the above was placed on record. A manifest change has 
come over India in the vicinity of all mission stations — a 
change which is commanding the attention of the most in- 



PRACTICE OF THE MISSIONARIES. m 

different and faithless. And among the agencies which have 
been employed in bringing about this change, none have 
been more effective than mission schools. 



Practice of the Missionaries. 

So thoroughly did the missionaries become convinced of 
the value of these schools, that they continued to increase 
them to the extent of their means, and when these failed it 
became a cause of much grief. Thus the history of their 
labors for 1821, after mentioning the return of Mr. Bard- 
well to America, from failure of health, and the death of 
Mr. Newell, adds : 

1821. — " This mission had other afflictions. The deficiency 
of the treasury at home curtailed its means of usefulness. 
[Their joint letter, dated. July 1st, states that of the 25 
schools under their care, the want of funds had compelled 
them to discontinue 10 ; thus abandoning 500 children, 
at least for the present, to the uncounteracted influences of 
heathenism." 

In this emergency, they drew encouragement from the 
fact, that Mr. Hall had succeeded in bringing into his family 
" ten or twelve native children as boarding scholars," and 
Messrs. Nichols and Graves each of them four more. They 
now began to hope that the plan of boarding-schools, an ob- 
ject of much desire with them and the officers of the Board, 
would at length succeed. 

3822. — This year "the number of schools, which had 
been reduced to 15, was increased to 18. The number of 
children received into mission families for education was 
greatly increased." 

1828. — The estimate of these schools, by European Christ- 
ians living on the ground and observing their character and 
influence, is well worthy of notice. This estimate may be 
inferred from their frequent and generous contributions for 
the special support of the schools. These appear in success- 
ive years, and such as meet the eye will suggest the proper 
inference. The amount contributed this year was "about 



62 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

$1300." " The whole number of the schools, at the end of 
the year, was 26. The number of scholars was 1454." 

1824. — So generous had been the contributions received 
for schools from the Governor and other European Christ- 
ians, that the mission now " resolved to increase the number 
of schools to 34," and before the year closed they increased 
them to 39. This year the mission commenced a school for 
girls, the first ever known in Western India. It was broken 
np in a short time by the death of the teacher, but it was 
resumed the following year, and others commenced. 

" In October, Manuel Antonio, a superintendent of schools 
in the service of the mission, requested admission to the 
church." 

In 1825, was formed "the Bombay Missionary Union," 
"for promoting Christian fellowship," and "advancing the 
kingdom of Christ in that country." With reference to this 
Union, and the change he had witnessed during his residence 
in Bombay, Gordon Hall writes : " What a contrast with 
the trials of 1813 and 1814 did it present ! Instead of being 
a prisoner under sentence of transportation from the land, I 
found myself among the representatives of five Christian 
missions, now carrying on, without molestation, their vari- 
ous and extensive operations in this immense field, where 
then there was not a single mission established. I was the 
patriarch among the little missionary brotherhood — none 
around me so old in years and missionary labors, and not 
one with so many gray hairs. I was affectingly admonished 
but greatly encouraged." One of the chief grounds of his 
encouragement and joy is thus expressed in his own lan- 
guage: "Four of these missions have in operation about 60 
schools, in which are more than 3000 children reading, or 
daily learning to read, the word of God, and receiving cate- 
chetical instruction." 

The schools continued to prosper, and at the close of this 
year the girls' schools had 75 pupils. 

In 1826, the devoted Gordon Hall was attacked with 
cholera while on a preaching tour, and sweetly rested from 
his labors amidst the people for whom he had come to toil 



MORAL COURAGE OF BABAJEE. 63 

and die. Thus weakened, the mission was " obliged to de- 
cline pressing invitations to open free schools," Twenty- 
four such schools were in operation, of which 9 girls' schools 
contained 466 pupils. The friends of the mission in Bombay 
contributed 2032 rupees for their support. 

I have thus far given the annual statistics of the schools 
to show their increasing favor with the missionaries and the 
Board, but as I propose to condense them all in a brief 
table at the close of Chapter IV., the reader will no longer 
look for them in the text. 

In 1827, a female teacher died, "giving some evidence of 
piety." The contributions of English friends for the schools 
amounted to 1880 rupees. 

Moral Courage of Babajee. 

In 1828, a rule was adopted " requiring teachers and 
scholars to stand during prayer." The Brahman teachers 
combined to resist the rule, and all but one, named 
Babajee, left the service of the mission. He declared the 
rule required nothing improper or contrary to the Hindu 
Shasters, and persisted in complying with it. " Council 
after council was called to condemn him and put him out of 
caste, at one of which at least a thousand Brahmans were 
present. He appealed to their common-sense against the 
absurdity of persecuting him so violently for" such an act, 
" while there were Brahmans present with whom he had 
eaten beef and drunken brandy, and caroused for whole 
nights together, and no censure had been inflicted on them. 
They, however, imposed such humiliating penances upon 
him, and were so resolute in their wrath, that it was thought 
best for him to retire awhile to the Deccan." But "other 
teachers soon came forward, eager to be employed by the 
mission ; and many of the Brahmans who had left, soon 
came back and resumed their places, submitting to the offen- 
sive rule without further contest. After a while Babajee 
came back, and was permitted to pursue his business unmo- 
lested ; but these events did much to cure him of his regard 
for Brahmanism." ■"-■'"■- 



f>4 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

This case brings to view some of the benefits of these 
schools. They secured to the missionaries a hold upon the 
teachers and scholars, and an influence over the community 
which they had no other means of gaining. The schools 
diffused light and knowledge among the people, which 
alarmed the Brahmans and led them to fear any farther con- 
cessions ; and which now agitated their whole body, and 
doubtless did more to make known the objects and doctrines 
of Christianity, during this discussion and excitement, than 
could have been effected without schools in many long years. 
The ultimate result on the mind of Babajee will soon 
appear. 

In 1829, " The superiority of the mission schools was 
acknowledged by parents and children of all classes, and 
contributions in Bombay, for their support, amounted to 
1500 rupees." 

The organs of the Board testify this year as follows : "The 
Brahmans are said to be evidently losing their hold on that 
portion of the people which has been taught, and is beginning 
to read, to reason, and to reflect." " There are adult females 
connected with some of the schools who give pleasing atten- 
tion to religious instruction." 

This last quotation reveals the very close connection and 
strong influence of the schools in the conversion even of the 
adult converts. 

The records of the Board, and of the missions every 
where abound in testimony, facts and incidents showing the 
great value of these schools. Take a few specimens, as 
follows : 

" Mr. Stone found every where in his tour most gratifying 
evidence that the school system is producing a change high- 
ly favorable to the introduction of the Gospel." "It is 
manifest to the children and the parents, that the pupils of 
the mission schools learn more and better things, than they 
were able to learn from any other quarter." 

What wonder that we hear this missionary exclaiming : 

" Oh ! that I had the thousandth part of the resources of the 
American churches : then would I establish schools in all 



CONVERSION OF THREE HEATHEK TEACHERS. bO 

these pagan villages, which like so many springs of living 
water, breaking out in a desert, would soon, by the blessing 
of God, change this vast moral waste into the garden of the 
Lord." " At one place Mr. Stone found several of the 
larger scholars had a good understanding of the Christian 
religion. They acknowledged their belief in its truth, and 
said it was wrong to worship idols." 

In 1830, the records of the Board say : " These schools 
exert a favorable influence on the character of the villages 
where they are situated, and the missionaries justly regard 
them as so many lights burning amidst the deep spiritual 
gloom which covers the country. . Nowhere is there found 
such a disposition to receive and read the publications of the 
missionaries, as among those who have been instructed in 
the mission schools. These are also most forward to listen 
to the preaching of the Gospel, which, owing to their ac- 
quaintance with Christian books, they understand better 
than the other natives." " The number of attendants on 
public worship at the chapel was considerably increased by 
the influence of the schools." 

Conversion of three Heathen Teachers. 

1831. — This year the missionaries began to realize more 
fully their hopes from these schools and the employment of 
heathen teachers. For eighteen years from the origin of the 
mission they had found it impracticable to employ any 
Christian teachers. During these years a few persons had 
been hopefully converted and gathered into a Christian 
Church, mostly in connection with the schools, and their 
labors in English. These were three Europeans, (two of 
them being a school-master and his wife,) one American, one 
Dane, a Portuguese and his wife, a Malay woman, a Mus- 
sulman, and one low-caste Hindoo. Of the whole number, 
only three were natives of India, two of whom, and also the 
Portuguese and Malay, were connected with the schools, and 
thus became acquainted with saving truth. There is also 
mention made of three other persons, two of whom were 
teachers, who became acquainted with Christian truth in the 



66 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

schools, and gave good evidence of conversion on their 
death-beds. But the brightest event in the history of this 
mission thus far, was the conversion, this year, of three 
heathen teachers of high caste. . These were the Brahman, 
Babajee, mentioned already in 1828, and two others, named 
Dajeeba and Moroba. The conversion of these intelligent 
and educated high-caste teachers marks an era in the history 
of the mission. It brought fresh hope and courage and joy 
to the hearts of the toil-worn missionaries, while at the same 
time it roused the native community to a sense of their dan- 
ger from these mission schools. The Brahmans held coun- 
cil after council — ail Bombay was in commotion, and peti- 
tions were sent to the British Government, praying that 
these schools of the American missionaries might be inter- 
dicted by legal enactment. Could we have more positive 
proof of the wisdom of employing such heathen teachers t 

1832. — Referring to the records of this year we find : 
" Female education in Bombay is gradually assuming a 
more encouraging appearance." Of their preaching tours, 
the missionaries say : " We have been well received by the 
people generally ; and especially in the villages where we 
have schools established, a desire for books is rapidly increas- 
ing, and a preparation of mind, to read them with profit, 
and to attend on the preaching of the Gospel to advantage, 
was manifest. We may hope that the schools will have no 
small share of influence in increasing, as they have had in 
producing, this state of things. Many families are now 
blessed with the reading of the Scriptures and tracts, in 
consequence of these schools, which otherwise would not 
have been the case." 

1833. — The missionaries say : " There is every reason to 
believe that the children who are receiving instruction in 
these schools, will by no means be so tenacious of their 
idolatrous and superstitious rites as their fathers are. It is 
ours to sow the seed, water it with our prayers and tears, 
and look to God for the blessing and the final accomplish- 
ment of all his purposes of grace towards the heathen." 



DEATH OF GUNGAH AND BABAJEE. 67 



Death of Gungah. 

This year died Gungah, a pupil of one of the girls 1 schools, 
who had for some time been regarded as hopefully pious. 
Miss Farrar, who had taken her into her own family, says 
of her manifest piety : "It did not seem to matter whom 
she met, or where ; if there appeared a suitable opportu- 
nity for her to speak of the love of Jesus, and his blessed 
cause, she was not backward to do so. She manifested a 
realizing sense of her depravity, and of her desert for sin, 
and of gratitude for the great goodness of God to her, in 
blessing the means for bringing her to the knowledge of 
the truth, and for her hope of glory through a crucified 
Saviour. Her mind was remarkably clear and rational to 
the last. Her last words were, ' I am looking for the 
coming of Jesus,' and she sunk into bis blessed embrace, as 
I trust, without a sigh." 

Death of Babajee. 

This year died Babajee also, and the record concerning 
him is a permanent testimony to the value of such educated 
heathen teachers, when once converted, in making known the 
Gospel to others. A few sentences of this record are as 
follows : 

u His death is a very great loss, not only to the particu- 
lar mission to which he belonged, but to the cause of Christ 
in general. Though he was not permitted to labor in the 
service of his divine Master above eighteen months, still he 
was enabled to accomplish more in this short period than 
can ordinarily be expected of a foreigner during twice that 
time. He addressed his own people in their vernacular 
tongue. He knew their prejudices and superstitions, their 
rites, and their sacred books. His appeals to the corrupt 
priesthood, from which he came out, were as pointed arrows, 
prepared, not in the spirit of rancorous bitterness, but in 
the spirit of divine love. Since his conversion he had been 
a most ardent, persevering helper in the work, and a most 
sincere, conscientious Christian/' 



68 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

In reviewing their past labors, the missionaries this year 
found that the effective years of labor by all, from the ori- 
gin of the mission, amounted to the same as one man forty- 
nine years ; and very fitly represent that if any thought 
little or nothing had been accomplished by that mission, he 
would, on the same principle, consider the 183,600 men, 
who left their homes and went to the mountains and forests 
to prepare materials for the temple, as having effected 
nothing by all their labor towards building that magnificent 
structure at Jerusalem. 

Estimate of the Schools by the Board and the Missionaries. 

1834. — The estimation in which the schools were held by 
the Board at this date, may be inferred from the following 
resolution, adopted at their annual meeting, namely : , 

"Resolved, That in view of the great deficiency of mission- 
aries, the Board esteem the establishment of high-schools and 
seminaries for educating native catechists and preachers, as 
highly important ; and that it be recommended to the Pru- 
dential Committee to foster those seminaries already in ope- 
ration, and to found others as there may be opportunity, 
■with, the hope of supplying in part the deficiency of Chris- 
tian teachers from this country." 

The estimate of the English language by the natives had 
long before led the missionaries to avail themselves of it to 
some extent, and some young Brahmans had been taught 
English in private classes. The Eeport of this year says : 

"A school for teaching the English language has been 
commenced at Ahmednuggur, and another at Bombay, with 
the hope that each of them will grow into an institution of 
more importance. Their average attendance may be about 
25. It has not yet been found possible to get up boarding- 
schools on the plan of those in the Ceylon mission." 

So much were the home-officers of the Board impressed 
with the value of schools among the Mahrattas, that this 
year six more teachers were sent out from America, namely: 
Messrs. Hubbard and Abbott, with their wives, and Miss 
Kimball and Miss Graves, to assist in teaching and sunerin- 



ESTIMATE OF THE SCHOOLS BY THE BOARD. 69 

tending them. Miss Farrar continued to prosecute her zeal- 
ous labors in this department, as she has done to the present 
time, and the other ladies of the mission all seem to have 
borne a part in the teaching and care of schools, to the ex- 
tent of their health and strength. "An asylum or charity 
school was opened at Bombay in the summer of 1834, for 
the reception of native orphan girls, and for other poor 
female children." "The estimated expense of feeding, 
clothing, washing, and instructing one of these girls, is 
about a dollar a month. Ten girls have been received and 
promise well." 

1835. — This year the English school at Bombay reports 
50 scholars, and another English school was commenced at 
Mahim. The report brings to view the earnest desire of 
the Board to see boarding-schools in operation in Bombay, 
and the great hindrance to them from caste ; hopes Miss 
Farrar will yet succeed, and mentions with encouragement 
that Mrs. Graves had " collected 40 girls at Satara." 

1836. — Of the free schools the missionaries say: "One 
reason of supporting these schools is, they furnish a medium 
of communication with the inhabitants of the villages." 
" In addition to the advantages which these schools afford 
the children in the way of education and religious instruc- 
tion, they furnish a medium of communication with the 
inhabitants of the villages, and thus open the way for im- 
parting Christian instruction." " To raise them from this 
state of ignorance, to remove those prejudices which keep 
them morally and intellectually degraded, and, above all, to 
make them acquainted with Christianity, so that they may 
feel the force of its great truths on their hearts, and may 
become wise unto salvation, is the end we aim to accom- 
plish, in our efforts in the cause of education." 

The schools were still the principal reliance for preaching 
audiences. Of the stated audience in Bombay, it is said : 
" The assembly consists principally of the larger children 
from the boys' and girls' schools, of the teachers of the 
schools, of the men employed in the printing establishment, 
and of other persons connected with the mission, or belong- 
ing to the families composing it." "Curiosity will some- 



70 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

times induce people to attend for one or two Sabbaths," but 
for a stated audience it was found of no avail. 

The English school which had been established in 1834 
was of brief continuance. The Annual Keport of this year 
says : " The school for teaching the English language has 
been relinquished, at the suggestion of the committee," [in 
Boston.] The intelligent reader will hardly be able to 
avoid the reflection that this " suggestion of the Commit- 
tee" was a departure from the broad and liberal views of 
the early officers and missionaries of the Board, and illy 
accords with the views of the Secretary at a still later date, 
(see p. 22.) Who can avoid the conviction that had this 
English school been allowed to continue, and grow into a 
large and valuable institution, similar to that of our breth- 
ren of the Scotch Free Church, the success of our Bombay 
Mission would have been far greater, and its present posi- 
tion and prospects much more hopeful than they now are ? 

Two or three who had long been instructed in the schools 
were this year received into the church. 

1837. — In this year of financial distress, " the extension of 
the Mahratta missions was checked for want of funds." The 
reductions necessitated caused a voice of general lamentation 
to come up from all the missions ; and in the statement of 
the Secretaries at the annual meeting, they say : " The effects 
of the curtailment were first felt in the free schools and semi- 
naries connected with the missions, and they were disastrous 
and painful nearly in proportion to the extent and success 
with which they bad before been conducted." "The 
schools among the Mahrattas suffered much from the cur- 
tailment, and would have been wholly broken up, had not 
timely aid been furnished by friends of the mission, residing 
in that quarter." 

The Secretaries 1 estimate of these schools may be inferred 
from their opinion of the disastrous results of suspending 
them. On this point they testify as follows : 

" The mere suspension of the schools constitutes but a 
small part of the calamity which the missions are suffering, 
in this respect. There is the difficulty of collecting those 
pupils again when the missions shall have the means to re* 



OPPOSITION OF THE HINDUS TO THE SCHOOLS, 71 

ceive and instruct them, requiring perhaps not less lime and 
labor than were necessary at first. Then there is the retard- 
ing of the education of native preachers and other helpers, 
who are so much needed, in addition to the loss of most of 
the labor and expense which had been bestowed upon those 
candidates for such employments, who have been turned 
away. Then there is the diminished number at the word 
preached on the Sabbath, and on other occasions. The 
schools are the preaching places ; and the masters and 
pupils, and their friends, who all felt that they were receiv- 
ing favors from the missions, were the most constant and 
the most interested hearers. This retrograde movement 
has, in some instances, exerted a most unhappy influence 
upon a whole heathen community*" 

The inquiry is respectfully proposed, Why this lamenta- 
tion for schools necessarily disbanded for want of funds in 
1887, and the forcible suppression by the Deputation of pre- 
cisely the same kind of schools in new missions in 1854 ? — 
schools too, which, in the latter instance, never cost the 
Board a farthing ! 

1838. — In this financial emergency, " The schools at Bom- 
bay received important aid from European Christians, who 
gave liberally to sustain them through the season of pecu- 
niary embarrassment." 

Opposition of the Hindus to the Schools. 

1839. — This year is memorable in the history of the Bom- 
bay missions for the opposition of the native community. 
This opposition was excited by the conversion and baptism 
of two Parsee students in the English Institution of the 
Scotch Free Church Mission — a case forcibly illustrating the 
value of such schools. If there is any other agency which 
could have so extensively and intensely excited the native 
population of Bombay, and led to so wide an extension of 
the knowledge of Christianity, it certainty remains to be dis- 
covered. However much missionary societies may under- . 
value these schools, those among the heathen who most 
resolutely oppose our efforts, show that they understand 



72 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

their character and influence. To no department of our 
labors was more vigorous opposition manifested on this 
occasion, than to our mission schools of every grade. In 
narrating some of the circumstances of this opposition to 
the Secretaries of the Board, our missionaries say : 

" The people whose children attended our schools were 
told to withdraw them immediately, and that fearful conse- 
quences would follow if their children should continue to 
attend. A tract was prepared, printed and freely circulated 
in Bombay, entreating all classes of the native population to 
withdraw their children from the mission schools. It was 
not easy for parents and teachers to withstand such influence 
and obloquy. The boys' and girls' schools both suffered ; 
the latter suffered most. Female education was represented 
as an innovation attempted by missionaries upon the good 
old ways, and so was the subject of special obloquy." 

A " Society for Protecting Hinduism " was formed, and 
"all the Hindus were called upon to subscribe liberally to 
the funds of the Society, and to exert their influence for the 
support of their own religion, now in great danger from the 
schools, and other operations of the missionaries." Some 
leading natives got up a petition to Government, in which, 
among other things, " they request that a law may be passed 
which shall allow no missionary schools to be established in 
the interior, without the express sanction of Government." 

Approval of Schools by the Board. 

1840. — Some of the papers read this year by the Secretaries 
at the annual meeting, and approved by the Board, express 
sentiments which show the high estimation in which they 
held this department of mission labor, as follows : 

" Probably not less than 60,000 or 70,000 persons have 
had portions of the Bible put in their hands, and been 
taught to read them by the missionaries which this Board 
has sent forth. How far the missionaries may properly go 
beyond the elementary education which is requisite for read- 
ing the Scriptures, and aim to introduce a Christian litera- 
ture.' among a heathen people, it is not necessary now to 






FACTS AND CONVERSIONS. 78 

determine. Bat one thing is evident, that wherever the 
Gospel enters with power, and the Scriptures are translated 
and distributed, and Christian schools are established to train 
up readers, and the mind is awakened from its listlessness, 
or called off from- sensual and grovelling to more intellectual 
employments, there the foundation is laid for a pure national 
literature. And it must further be admitted that the object 
of the missionary will not be fully accomplished, and hea- 
then people become what they are certainly destined to 
become, under the influence of the Gospel, until such a lite- 
rature shall be brought into existence. Nor is the object 
beneath the care of a Christian missionar}^ To pour such 
treasures of thought, and science, and refined sentiments as 
the English language contains into the language of one of 
the great Asiatic nations, imbuing them at the same time 
with the Christian spiri^, is, except preaching Christ cruci- 
fied to the sinner, (with wdrich this may have no slight con- 
nection,) second to no w r ork in which men can engage. 

"If, by giving the missionary schools, you can add the 
power of another man, it is right that he should have this 
increase of ability." 

These sentiments met the cordial approval of the Board, 
and no doubt encouraged the missionaries in sustaining 
these schools. 

Facts and Conversions in the History of the Schools. 

1841. — Four pupils from the schools were this year re- 
ceived into the church. One of the missionaries, discoursing 
on the error of idol-worship, and urging the duty of loving, 
serving, and worshipping the true God> a boy among the 
hearers confirmed his remark, saying : " True, and there is 
only one Saviour, and that is Jesus Christ.'' The missiona- 
ry says : " Surprised at this remark, from such a source, I 
looked closely at the boy, for it was twilight, and recognized 
him as one who belonged to our school in that neighborhood. 
Here he had learned the great and important truth which 
may yet be blessed to his salvation." How many hundreds 
4 



74 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

and thousands of heathen children and youth have learned 
this same blessed truth in these mission schools ! 

1842. — While preaching in the villages on the continent 
this year, Mr. Hume found many persons " who had ac- 
quired a knowledge of the fundamental truths of the Gos- 
pel," to such an extent that he was quite surprised till he 
ascertained that "they had been in some of the mission 
schools" The only admission to the church this year was 
one more girl from the hoarding-school. 

1843. — Mr. Hume writes : " Our boys' schools are now in 
a flourishing state. All who are able to read assemble with 
their teachers as a Sabbath-school, and also attend the 
preaching services. The girls' schools have not yet recov- 
ered from the shock which they received at the time of the 
baptisms in January." The persons here alluded to as having 
been baptized were two (till then) heathen teachers. Of one of 
them the missionary wrote : " Nantcheny is an intelligent 
young woman, who, for several years, has been connected 
with the family boarding-school, first as a scholar, then as a 
teacher. She has for a long time been fully persuaded of 
the truth of Christianity, and she has often been deeply in- 
terested in the subject of personal religion." 

It is worthy of notice that though several pupils and 
teachers had been received into the church, none of them 
could yet be successfully employed as teachers of free 
schools, subsequent to their baptism. Such was the panic 
among the people that they feared to send their children to 
such teachers, and in case of most or all of them, other im- 
portant service was given to them as native helpers. Such 
had been the case with Babajee and Dajeeba, who were 
received into the church in 1831, and were soon transferred 
to Ahmednuggur as helpers. The result of. the baptisms 
this year was much as usual. The missionaries say : 

" Considerable excitement has been produced in our 
vicinity by these baptisms. The most interesting of our 
girls' schools has been broken up entirely. The teacher 
was a female, who had received much instruction, who had 
felt something of the power of truth, and whom we hoped 



FACTS AND CONVERSIONS. 75 

soon to see 'numbered with the people of God. Her friends 
have been so much alarmed in regard to her as to prevent 
her coming to us any more. The parents of the children in 
her school were, for the most part, of the same caste as 
Nantcheny, and they have become alarmed lest their children 
also should be converted. Two of our boys' schools have 
likewise suffered from the same excitement. The teacher 
of one of the schools, a promising young man, who desires 
baptism, has been urged to relinquish his present employ- 
ment ; he has received the promise of a large school with 
increased pay." 

Thus did these schools for heathen children, and taught by 
heathen teachers, continue to bring hopeful converts into the 
Church of Christ, and to arouse the fears and opposition of 
the heathen. 

It is much to be regretted that the reports of the' mission 
do not mention explicitly the immediate influence blessed 
to conversion in each instance. In most cases there is pre- 
sumptive evidence that the converts were connected with 
the schools, but as the strictest accuracy is desirable, no con- 
vert is classified in connection with the schools unless it is 
so stated in the reports or letters of the missionaries. 

It should also be noted that in case of the great majority 
of the converts who were not either pupils or, teachers be- 
fore their conversion, the influence of the schools is mani- 
fest in first bringing them to the missionaries, and under 
Christian instruction. 

The teacher who was this year received into the Church 
continued to be employed as a teacher in the boarding- 
school two or three months, and was the first native Christ- 
ian teacher employed in the entire history of the mission, so 
far as recorded. She soon relinquished her useful position 
as a Christian teacher to become the wife of a converted 
Brahman, a catechist of the church-mission at Nassick. Mr. 
Hume writes of her : " She is perhaps the best educated 
female in the Mahratta country, and one in whose piety we 
have entire confidence. We were much attached to her, 
and we doubt not she will be very useful in her new rela- 
tion." 



76 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

1844. — Of the Christian teaching in the schools the mis- 
sionaries say : 

" Most of these children have as much historical and doc- 
trinal knowledge of the Bible as children of their age gene- 
rally in our own country. How far this knowledge is ac- 
companied with a conviction of the truth of Christianity, it 
is impossible to know, but they can not follow idolatry, and 
its superstitious and unmeaning rites, without recollecting 
that these things are forbidden, and, we believe, without 
often feeling a repugnance to them." " The teachers of 
these schools are intelligent men, and have acquired much 
historical and doctrinal knowledge of the Scriptures. They 
have at times shown that they felt strong convictions of the 
truth of Christianity, and we have hoped to see these con- 
victions strengthened, till they should experience the re- 
newing influence of the Holy Spirit, and profess their faith 
in Christ." 

Of Mrs. Hume's girls' boarding-school it is said: " The 
divine blessing has rested upon it, and seven of its inmates 
have given such evidence of having experienced the enlight- 
ening and renewing influence of the Holy Spirit, that they 
have been baptized. Two others, who have not been bap- 
tized, have died, leaving evidence that the instruction given 
them had not been in vain." 

Of Mrs. Graves' girls' boarding-school the fact is men- 
tioned in the reports of this year, that it had been mostly 
supported by English friends from the first. 

1845. — Again we find of Mrs. Craves' school, " its entire 
expense is defrayed by special donations." Of Mrs. Hume's, 
also : " This, likewise, is mainly supported by special do- 
nations, and by work done in the school. For several years 
past the divine blessing has manifestly attended the labor 
bestowed upon it." 

1846. — Of both these schools it is again stated : " Their 
expense continues to be defrayed mostly by special dona- 
tions received in India. The one in Bombay has been 
more interesting the past year than usual. The scholars 
not only made good progress in their studies, but some of 



FACTS AND CONVERSIONS. 77 

them have manifested a pleasing- solicitude in regard to their 
spiritual welfare." One had been welcomed to the church, 
and others were asking to be received. 

1847. — Nearly all the fruit of labor in the mission seems 
to be in connection with the schools. Hence we read : 
" Only three persons were admitted to the church in 1847, 
and these were all from the female hoarding -school. They all 
gave gratifying evidence that the labor bestowed upon them 
had not been in vain." " Several children in the boarding- 
school have exhibited an inquiring state of mind, and three 
more of them express the hope that they have passed from 
death unto life." 

Up to this date no native Christian appears to have been 
emploj^ed as a teacher, in the whole history of the mission, 
except JNantcheny, as already mentioned, who was soon mar- 
ried, and removed to Nassick. This fact is worthy of notice, 
in connection with the manifest blessing which rested upon 
these schools, with heathen teachers, and in connection with 
the following paragraph in the report of the Committee on 
the Mahratta missions this year, namely : 

"It is delightful to observe the tokens of divine favor 
granted to this oldest of the missions, under the care of this 
Board. The establishment of the Bombay mission, asso- 
ciated as it is with the labors and faith of the late Gordon 
Hall, one of the brightest lights in the firmament of missions, 
illustrate the special providence of God in a peculiar manner." 

1848. — Three more pupils from Mrs. Hume's school were 
this year admitted to the church, and of others it is stated : 
" We can not but hope that a saving change has been ex- 
perienced. One of the older girls, who for more than a 
year has been a consistent member of the church, has been 
removed by death, leaving the gratifying assurance that she 
has been called to a better home." 

In Mrs. Graves' school, also, " some have been under deep 
conviction, and some have asked for baptism." 

1849. — "Keligious interest" continues in the schools. 
" Three more girls have been admitted to the Church." 
The choice clusters of fruit come only from the schools. 



78 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

1850. — " Two persons were received into the Church " — 
one of them a young man who had been educated in the 
mission school at Ahmednuggur, and the other a pupil in 
the girls' school. 

Of the teachers this year, Mr. Hume writes: "Two native 
Christians, a male and a female, assist in giving instruction 
to the scholars." 

Here is the first notice we find on record of native Christian 
teachers in the Bombay mission, except Nantcheny a month 
or two, as before mentioned. Let those who doubt the wis- 
dom of employing heathen teachers review the history of 
this mission, without a native Christian teacher for 36 years , 
and yet almost all its converts, during these years, coming 
from the heathen teachers and pupils of these schools. 

Influence of the Mission Schools in changing Public Sentiment. 

The incidents of 1850 make it an era in the progress of 
Christian evangelization in India. In April was passed the 
memorable act of Government securing civil rights and 
liberty to native converts. The very general progress of 
enlightened sentiments, and the increase of true knowledge 
among the native population, became more than ever mani- 
fest. Particularly was this evident on the subject of female 
education. 

From the statements of the missionaries, take the follow- 
ing : " One of the most encouraging indications of the times 
in India is the change which is gradually taking place in 
the feelings of the people, in regard to female education. 
Hitherto, nothing or next to nothing has been done to ele- 
vate the Hindu female, except what has been accomplished 
by the missionaries. They, wherever located, have ad- 
dressed themselves more or less to this work. And consid- 
ering the apathy, incredulity, and even active opposition so 
generally manifested by the native community, these efforts 
have been attended with a large measure of success. A 
gradual change has been wrought in the feelings of the com- 
munity, so that the more wealthy natives have of late begun 
to educate their daughters in private. And the way has 



schools Change public sentiment. 79 

been prepared for the establishment of female schools, by 
the natives themselves, and by the Government." 

The influence of the mission schools in inducing this en- 
lightened state of feeling and sentiment could scarcely have 
been more manifest than it is. The influence of the female 
schools in modifying Hindu prejudices and preparing for a 
general change of views on the subject, is manifest from their 
first origin, in 1824. There had now arisen a class of edu- 
cated natives, not to be restrained and fettered by the foolish 
and puerile superstitions of their fathers. The students of 
the Elphinstone College resolved to engage in these praise- 
worthy efforts to diffuse the benefits of education, and very 
soon established eight girls' schools in Bombay. Similar 
schools were established in Calcutta and elsewhere, and now, 
also, the Government began to give direct countenance and 
patronage to female schools. Intelligent Hindus became 
conscious that a great intellectual and moral change was 
being effected in the native community. One of our mis- 
sionaries at Bombay wrote as follows : 

u Educated natives tell me that there has been, during the 
last few years, a great change in the religious views of this 
community, and especially in the younger and educated por- 
tion of it. One who has good opportunities for observation, 
and who is himself speculatively convinced of the truth of 
Christianity, said to me the other day : 'Our community has 
gone half-way to your opinions ; do not despair of the other 
half. I am firmly convinced that they will fully embrace 
your faith before many years.' " 

Striking testimony to the progress of enlightened views 
and the influence of the schools in effecting it, is given this 
year in the Pruhhakur, & native newspaper published in 
Bombay. The editor says : "I can not refrain from ac- 
knowledging, and with lively gratitude, that the missionaries 
who have come to our country, have exerted themselves 
with praiseworthy diligence to destroy sinful customs and 
practices. They have done us great favors. See ! They 
have come thousands of miles from their native land, and 
have taught our people many arts, and the whole round of 



usefol sciences. T- nakwko first established schools, 

ynvinced : siat this people is not averse to 

being taught but is rather anxious for the knowledge pes— ; a ■ 
ed bv enlightened countries. Afterwards the Government 
followed their example, and began to establish schools. 
:_ \s: be grateful for what the missionaries have done for us, 
m establishing schools in bc r^any places for instructing hun- 
dreds of boys and girls, even giving something for the 
port of such poor children as have no means, and thus in- 
ri ng them. ?? 

In view of such honest testimony from an enlightened 
:_ rii:or i: ~ : _ -:: :iie : - —:: ..: : — :_- 

'• The native mind is becoming more and more excited 
and distracted. Many of the Hindus are dissatisfied with 
their religious aod social ; : with the galling bondr;_ 

sfee 1 I e degraded condition and character of their 
:^_: "_t = 

1851. — 01 Mis Z one's girls school, the testhn ~ tins 
Tear is: _ no part of our missionary operations has :_t 
::.-e 55: __::■>:". s: :_ l::"?s: '] -~ 5 on this school Hie 

behavior and progress :: :_r pupils has been very satisfac- 
torv. One of them, an interesting girl, ~:s receive*:: 
:'_.- ?1 :: :'z ::-: : :"-- :•". .5- :•: I S 5 1 

The Annua] Rej >rt :: the Board this year says of these 
missions T he laborers at the several stations are pursuing 
their work with energy and good results. The station at 
Bom' -;. _ :s evi lently one of peculiar importer, e 

1852 — The _:: s" boarding-school continues to enjoy 
the iivine fav:: 7_ death of one of the girls is thus 
mfnri: n:-:. : 

She was is we filly believe, a true child of God. She 
had an amiable disp: s _ _ : s srious, well-balanced mind, and 
had received an excellent education both in English and 
Ifahr: :::. We had hoped that she would be very user 
an example and a guide to other native females, and thai 
she might long be an ornamen: :: the Church of Christ in 
India. But the Lord, who doeth all things well, hath or- 
^ered ::r.erwise. and hath early removed her from the 



INFLUENCE OF THE MISSION SCHOOLS. 81 

Church on eartli to the company of the redeemed in heaven. 
We were greatly attached to this dear girl ; but it is not for 
us to murmur at this dispensation. Rather would we praise 
God that his grace was so clearly manifested in and towards 
her, and that at the last there was hope in her death. Her 
memory is precious ; and we feel that she has not lived in 
vain." 

This girl had been supported by a pious lady in Scot- 
land. Can benevolent Christians feel that such examples 
of youthful piety and hopeful deaths on heathen ground, 
are purchased at too dear a price in the support of schools ? 
And when we see the divine blessing so manifestly resting 
on these schools, can we doubt that the Lord approves 
them ? In the special report of the Board on the Mahratta 
missions this year, we read : 

" These missions, being in the first field ever occupied by 
the Board, awaken many interesting reflections. No mis- 
sion undertaken by this organization has been attended by 
so many embarrassments as the one at Bombay. But God 
was pleased to provide for the exigency men of faith and 
prayer. The names of Gordon Hall and Samuel Newell 
will stand as memorials of missionary steadfastness and en- 
ergv for generations to come. The Mahratta missions are 
exerting an extended influence, far beyond the neighbor- 
hood of the several stations. Much interest has been ex- 
cited through the schools and the press. The spirit of inquiry 
and discussion which has been awakened in the Mahratta 
mind in regard to caste, and the concessions of the Brah- 
mans, that Christianity is gradually undermining the re- 
ligion of the Shasters, furnish evidence of the progress of 
the Gospel, and give promise of still greater success. Your 
committee think there has never been a time when the as- 
pect of these missions has been so favorable as the present ; 
and they commend this first field of the Board to its con- 
tinued and increased support." 
4* 



82 MISSION SCHOOLS. 



Statistics of Mission Schools in India, in 1851. 

This year were collected and published general statistics 
of all the Protestant missions in India ; and the number of 
their schools and pupils is doubtless a good indication of 
their estimate of this department of labor. These statistics 
give 1347 vernacular schools for boys, with 47,504 pupils. 

847 day-schools for girls, with 11,519 pupils. 

126 English schools, with 14,560 boys and young men. 

93 boarding-schools, with 2414 boys, and 

102 boarding schools, with 2779 girls. 

Here we have 64,480 bo} r s and young men, and 14,298 
females, under a regular systematic course of Christian in- 
struction. What a fact to cheer the heart of every lover of 
Zion who is hoping and praying for the evangelization of 
India ! And how forcibly does it witness to the judgment 
and experience of the whole band of Protestant missionaries 
in India, in favor of this agency for evangelizing the Hindus ! 

1853. — The Missionary Herald in its annual survey of this 
year, says of Mrs. Hume's girls' school: "The blessing of 
God has been manifestly upon it, and a goodly number of 
its inmates have from time to time been brought, as we 
trust, to a saving knowledge of the truth." 

Of the labors and results of this year in the Bombay mis- 
sion, the Board says : " The examples of the wise and good 
men and excellent women connected with this mission, the 
success of their labors, through the divine presence and 
blessing, and the evident preparation made for the rapid 
spread of the Gospel in a near approaching period, all give 
an interest and importance to this earliest mission of the 
American Board/' 

Disastrous Change. 

1854-5. — But this bright and blessed prospect was sud- 
denly overcast. Notwithstanding the evident and precious 
blessing that had rested on the schools through all their 
history, the frequent conversion of pupils and teachers, and 



DISASTROUS CHANGE. 83 

the bright prospect of " the rapid spread of the Gospel in a 
near approaching period," a sudden change was enforced 
which has rendered the mission comparatively desolate and 
barren ever since. 

The statistics of this mission for 1854-5 are few, and 
very little is said of it in the periodicals of the Board. In 
the Annual Report of 1855 it is stated that : " Owing in 
part, doubtless, to the broken state of the mission, and in 
part, it may be, to the visit of the Deputation to India, no 
report has been received from Bombay, and no communica- 
tions which enable the committee to go into details. 5 ' 

The mission had been weakened by the return of the 
Rev. Dr. Allen to America, and the death of Rev. R. W. 
Hume, on his voyage to this country, and also by the action 
of the Deputation in disbanding all the schools taught by heathen 
teachers, the girls 1 boarding-school and the English high-school. 
This swept overboard nearly every thing of interest in the 
mission. With all these schools broken up, and but one 
missionary there, we are not surprised to read in the special 
report, at the annual meeting of the Board, in 1855, as fol- 
lows, namely : 

" The condition of the Bombay mission is less encoura- 
ging than we should all desire," etc. 

This sudden change in the special report, from the bright 
and cheering prospect presented on the last page, is worthy 
of a permanent record and of prayerful reflection by all who 
love the cause of missions. 

As no allusion has been before made to the English High- 
school at Bombay, some acount of it is here necessary to a 
full history of the educational operations of the missions. 
Scarcely any thing appears in regard to it in the regular pe- 
riodicals of the Board, although the letters of the mission- 
aries were many, and long, and earnest. Its history will be 
best brought to view in connection with the doings of the 
Deputation, in the next chapter. 



CHAPTER I Y . 



HISTORY OF OUR BOMBAY MISSION SCHOOLS CONTINUED. 
Bombay High School and the Late Deputation. 

It is fresh in the memory of pastors and churches, that 
a Deputation of the A.B.C.F.M., consisting of Rev. R. An- 
derson, D.D., Senior Secretary, and Rev. A. C. Thompson, 
visited our India missions, in 1854-6. The doings of that 
Deputation caused much agitation, both in this country and 
in India; and a feeling of dissatisfaction still exists very 
widely in the hearts of our pastors and intelligent laymen. 
And yet it is doubtful whether the real occasion of the 
Deputation, and the extent and character of the changes 
effected by them, have been properly understood by the 
Christian public. 

Since returning from India I have often been asked, 
"What was the necessity of a Deputation? Why were 
not our intelligent missionaries there on the ground as well 
fitted to judge of the best agencies for carrying on this 
work, as any of our brethren here at home ? What less 
confidence could we have had in the members of the Depu- 
tation if they themselves had been laboring a dozen or 
twenty years in India, and thus come in possession of expe- 
rience as well as theories in this great work?" These are 
questions which the reader can answer as well as a mission- 
ary. But there are facts, in regard to which eye-witnesses 
may speak with more confidence than others. 



CAUSE OF THE DEPUTATION. 85 



Cause of the Deputation. 

The immediate cause of the Deputation was the High- 
school at Bombay, and the earnest appeals of the brethren 
in its behalf. This is brought to view with sufficient clear- 
ness in the Report of the Deputation, published in 1850. 
In that report it is stated as follows, namely : "In the early 
part of the } r ear 1854, letters were received from the Bom- 
bay Mission, earnestly requesting permission to institute a 
high-school on the model of certain Scotch and English 
schools existing in the large cities of India. The proposal 
was seconded by the Ahmednuggur Mission. . . . The 
school was urged upon the Committee as a matter of neces- 
sity, to save the Bombay mission from extinction," etc. 

The true issue is here stated. It may not have been fully 
appreciated by the Christian public, but it is unmistakable. 
TJie missionaries ivere united and earnest in asking what the 
Secretary ivas unwilling they should have. 

The reader will bear in mind that an English school had 
been established in our Bombay mission, so long ago as 
1884, and that it was disbanded in 1836, " at the suggestion 
of the Committee," in Boston. But the mission had con- 
tinued to feel the need of such an institution. For the want 
.of it they had seen their most promising converts attracted 
to other missions, and after forty years 1 labor, they found 
their native church still small and weak, with no well-edu- 
cated and efficient catechists and preachers. They found, 
too, that the desire for education, and especially for English 
education, was daily becoming more earnest, irresistible and 
universal among Hindu youth ; and when the English Sem- 
inary of our Ahmednuggur mission was disbanded, in 1851, 
by positive instructions from Boston, they found that sev- 
eral of our most promising converts and inquirers left us 
and came to Bombay, to secure the advantages offered in 
the mission institutions of our Scotch and English brethren 
at the presidency. 

The American missionaries in Bombay felt exceedingly 
grieved and tried at this state of things and so strong be- 



86 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

came their convictions that an English institution was neces- 
sary to the best interests and success of the mission, that 
they sent representations to the Secretary and Committee in 
Boston, urging the measure in the strongest possible lan- 
guage, and using the most convincing arguments. Of these 
arguments, the following extracts will enable the reader to 
judge for himself: 

Rev. R. W. Hume's Plea for Schools. 

"Bombay, 25 May, 1853. 
" Rev. Rufus Anderson, D.D., 

" Secretary to the A.B.C.F.M. : 
" Dear Sir : . . After a careful and earnest considera- 
tion of the character of the field, and our present position, I 
have come to a settled conviction that we are now, in the 
providence of God, clearly called to add an educational insti- 
tution to the operations of the mission. None of us have been 
'Educationists,' in the popular acceptation of that term. 
We have resisted the idea that missionaries must become 
schoolmasters. We each and all came to India to be preach- 
ing missionaries ; and we have sought to be a preaching mis- 
sion. We have no wish to relinquish the work of preaching, 
nor any intention of doing so. But we are satisfied that the 
mission can not properly accomplish its work, and reap the 
fruit of its labors, without a superior educational institution. 
The present character of the field, and our peculiar circum- 
stances with reference to the other missions, require it. The 
providence of God is shutting us up to this course, and the 
Board and the mission must submit to the necessity that is laid 
upon them. Among the better classes in Bombay, and to a 
less extent in the larger towns and villages, there is now a 
great desire for education. The most hopeful and important 
class is the young men ; and among these there is not merely 
a desire for education, but a passion, so to speak, for English 
education. . . The easiest, nay almost the only way, to 
bring this important class, for any length of time, under the 
influence of the mission, is by means of a superior institution, 
in which English shall be taught. This is the plan adopted by 
the other missions in Bombay, and at nearly or quite all the 
mission stations in this country. Without such an institution 
your missionaries must be more and more cut off from this 



REV. R. W. HUMES PLEA FOR SCHOOLS. 87- 

most interesting and hopeful class, who will naturally be drawn 
towards those missions which fall in with their feelings and as- 
pirations. 

a Again, the converts naturally, and very properly too, share 
in the prevalent desire for education. Those who are parents 
will insist on the education of their children. And do what 
we will, the young men of spirit will not be kept back from an 
education. We have no institution for imparting such an ed- 
ucation as they desire. The other missions are ready to re- 
ceive them, and do for them what we can not. And the sure 
result must be that the best families, and the most efficient, in- 
teresting young men, will be drawn away from us ; and thus 
our labors, in a good measure, must go to build up other mis- 
sion churches. And will the American Board and the Amer- 
ican churches consent to perpetuate such a state of things ? 
Are they willing that their missionaries should thus be made 
hewers of wood and drawers of water to the other missions ? 

" We may preach the Gospel in season and out of season ; 
we may prepare, and print, and circulate tracts and books; we 
may be exceedingly useful in many ways ; but it is as certain 
as the law of gravitation that, are we not allowed to occupy 
a different position, the best fruits of our labors will be gath- 
ered up by others — a state of things which we feel assured the 
churches which sustain the American Board will not knowingly 
and willfully tolerate for an hour. 

" The evil of which I am now speaking principally concerns 
us in Bombay. But your missions in the Deccan must also be 
affected by it, and that in an increasing degree from year to 
year. Already they are having some bitter experience of what 
is abundantly in store for them in years to come, unless a suit- 
able remedy is provided. Not long since you announced to 
the American churches the baptism of Vyenkutrao, a Brahman 
convert at Ahmednuggur. He is now a student of theology 
in the Free Church Institution here. More recently you an- 
nounced the baptism of Krishna, an interesting young Brah- 
man at Satara. He, too, has just been transferred to the Free 
Church Institution and the Free Church Mission, in the ex- 
pectation of being there trained for the Gospel ministry. When 
the Seminary at Ahmednuggur was finally relinquished, an in- 
teresting young man, Ramchunder, having studied there for 
some time, had become convinced of the truth of Christianity, 



88 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

and was thought to be a hopeful inquirer. He wished to re- 
main and pursue his studies in connection with the American 
mission, but as that could not be, [the Seminary being aban- 
doned] he soon found his way to the Free Church Institution, 
where a few weeks since he was baptized. Ramaji, a prom- 
ising convert of the Ahmednuggur mission, and Tukeram, a 
son of one of the native assistants of that mission, are at pre- 
sent studying here in the Free Church Institution. And in 
most such cases the sure result must be that the young men 
are lost to us. Their sympathies and their home are naturally 
with the mission in which they are trained; and instead of 
strengthening us, they are likely to draw away others after 
them. Nothing could be more natural than such a result. 
The best scholars of our schools, the children of the converts 
— sometimes those on whom much labor has been bestowed — 
come to us asking that we should secure their admission into 
one of the other mission institutions. Inquirers, too, after 
coming for a time to us, often find attractions at those Institu- 
tions which we can not offer; and after getting enrolled in 
them as students, naturally receive religious instruction there. 
This state of things has long cost us much anxiety, and the 
evil is increasing from year to year. I now wonder that we 
have borne it so long ; but there is a limit to endurance, and 
that limit has at length been reached. 

"The proposal to establish a superior institution in connec- 
tion with the Bombay mission, may not be in accordance with 
the cherished plans and hopes, either of the missionaries or of 
the Board. But a necessity is laid upon us which we can no 
longer escape from. We may regret that there is such a pas- 
sion for English education on the part of the rising generation ; 
we may regret that your missionaries can not retain their con- 
verts, and build up the native Church, without yielding to the 
, current that has set in so strongly ; but Providence has settled 
this matter for us, and regrets are vain — nay, if persisted in, 
they are wicked. 

" God has a high purpose to fulfill in regard to India. And 
in this passion for English education, and in all the peculiar 
circumstances of this people, we must discern his workings. 
His hand is in it. The way in which he has chosen to accom- 
plish his purposes, may be different from what we expected, 
and different from what we desired. But we must fall in with 



REV. R. W. HUME T S PLEA FOR SCHOOLS. Q 9 

his plans, when once indicated, or we must suffer the penalty. 
We may kick against the pricks, if we will ; we may row 
against wind and tide till we are weary ; but our blind obsti- 
nacy will avail us nothing. God has, in a most remarkable 
manner, given India into the hands of England ; and the Eng- 
lish language and literature have here a high destiny to fulfill. 
Let us be wise enough to take things as they are, instead of 
wasting our time and our strength in wishing they were 
otherwise. 

" I have long resisted some of the convictions to which ut- 
terance has just been given. But I now submit to what I 
regard a Heaven-ordained necessity. And I am satisfied, too, 
that God's plan is the best. Your missionaries have not been 
disposed to come up to the necessities of the occasion in the 
matter of an educated native ministry. They have been too 
ready to work through partially educated and imperfectly quali- 
fied agents. No where is this a greater error than in India; 
and God is shutting us up to better things. The Government 
institutions are yearly sending out men thoroughly trained, a 
large part of whom are Deists and Infidels. Their influence 
must be immense. Such educated young men must be the 
leading spirits of the nation. They will guide and mould pub- 
lic opinion. They must give character and form to the views 
and feelings of the multitude. Under such circumstances we 
want, and we must have, native preachers of the Gospel tho- 
roughly trained ; men who can stand up unabashed before edu- 
cated revilers, and manfully contend for the faith as it is in 
Jesus. For us to aim at any thing less than this would be un- 
worthy of the cause to which we are devoted. And we may 
be assured that if we neglect this high duty, God will raise up 
men of greater faith, of more expanded views, and of a higher, 
holier ambition, to do a work which we refuse to perform. . . 
The expense of the Institution, aside from the salaries of those 
connected with it, need not be very great. A special effort 
will sooner or later be required to provide a suitable building, 
etc. But the necessary sum can be raised, we feel assured, 
without interfering with the ordinary income of the Board. 
Many would give liberally for this object, who ordinarily give 
little to foreign missions. We have faith in the churches with 
reference to this matter. They are neither less able nor less 
spirited than the churches of other lands, who supply the funds 



90 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

for similar institutions to be devoted to the service of Christ in 
various parts of India. If you have any misgivings in regard 
to this point, give us a commission to raise the money, and 
leave us free to make the necessary arrangements, and to pre- 
sent the requisite appeals. We have no fear but that the claim 
for funds, if properly set forth and understood, will be recog- 
nized and regarded. 

"It should, I think, be understood that the proposal now 
made to the Prudential Committee, is one which involves, not 
merely the prosperity of the mission, but eventually its very 
existence. It is a question of life and death. We have no 
proper provision for bringing under our influence, for any length 
of time, the most important and hopeful class in the commu- 
nity — the young men. We have no provision for educating 
the children of the converts, nor for training native preachers 
and other assistants. They must look to other missions for 
what we are not in a position to give, and must, of course, be 
drawn away from us. In such circumstances, the mission may 
endure for a season, and may do very much to advance the 
cause of Christ ; but it can not reap the fruits of its labors ; 
and consequently it must in the end be given up in discourage- 
ment and despair. The great battle with superstition and error 
will continue to be waged until it is brought to a successful 
termination. But if you remain in the field, and continue to 
occupy your present position, you and your missionaries, in- 
stead of leading the van, must be content to act the useful but 
ignoble part of baggage-bearers to the rest of the army. . . 

" But if the Bombay mission can not be properly sustained 
without so much labor and expense, then is it not better to re- 
tire and leave the field to other sections of the Church? To 
such a proposal our heart and our judgment alike answer no ! 
Let Bombay, the first-born of your missions, be abandoned, 
and it will strike a cold chill through the American churches. 
The announcement would tend to dampen the hopes and the 
feelings of the friends of missions in every land. The heathen, 
from one end of India to the other, would rejoice and take 
courage. The enemies of the Gospel on all sides would say, 
Aha! aha ! The friends of the American Board as they, gene- 
ration after generation, read the history of its origin and first 
struggles — the hopes, aspirations, and efforts of those vene- 
rated men, who, amidst prayers, tears, and rejoicing, planted 



REV. E. W. HUME'S PLEA FOE SCHOOLS. 91 

this mission ; would not their feelings be shocked ? Would 
not their hearts heave a heavy sigh it* required to read a few 
pages further on, that after forty years of prayer and effort, the 
Bombay mission was abandoned, and the fruit of its labors left 
for others to gather ? And would they not make inquisition 
regarding the reasons for such a procedure ? To abandon such 
a field as this — one of the most important, interesting, and 
hopeful in all the heathen world — would it not be treason 
against Christ ? Besides, it would be a suicidal measure. It 
would, to a certain extent, destroy the prestige of the Board — 
a thing of which some may think lightly, but which is in fact, 
a serious matter ; it would weaken your hold upon the confi- 
dence of the churches, so that, in the end, you would lose far 
more, even in a pecuniary point of view, than would have been 
required to carry on the mission on the largest scale of expen- 
diture. Let the Board abandon the Bombay mission, and it 
voluntarily assumes the position of a bereaved mother laying 
her first-born in the dust. And the vivid impression made on 
many minds must be, that the remaining children may in like 
manner, one after the other, soon pass away. 

" And what would be gained by abandoning Bombay ? You 
would, indeed, for the present, escape the necessity of estab- 
lishing a superior educational institution. But will not a like 
necessity soon arise in any other field which you may occupy ? 
— one which others will recognize, if you do not ? And then you 
might again withdraw, leaving to others the field so long culti- 
vated. But I do not believe the American Board and the 
American churches are prepared thus to play 'the squatter' 
in the wide wastes of heathenism. 

" The American churches were the first to plant the standard 
of the cross in Bombay. For forty years they have nobly main- 
tained the warfare with the prevalent systems of error ; and 
now, when these systems are ready to perish, a proposal to 
abandon the field would be monstrous. God forbid that the 
churches and the Board should be left to any such course as 
this. I never should have thought to speak of such a thing as 
abandoning Bombay, had not such a proposal been made by a 
sub-committee of the Board a few years since. 

a The absolute necessity for a superior institution for the 
training of native preachers, etc, etc., has latterly pressed more 
and more upon my mind. . . 



H2 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

u - We hope that the subject now brought before you may be 
considered at an early day, and that God may guide you to a 
wise decision. You will see how important the question to be 
decided is in our view ; and we earnestly hope that your esti- 
mate of the subject may correspond with ours. We shall look 
with some anxiety for your reply, which we hope may author- 
ize us to take steps for carrying the plan into execution. With 
kindest regards to your associates at the mission-house, in 
which Mrs. Hume unites, believe me, in the service of Christ, 
u Yours, very sincerely, 

* " R. W. Hume." 

This noble and earnest plea requires no comment. It does 
credit alike to the head and the heart — to the manly and 
Christian and missionary spirit of the author. How could 
its arguments be set aside, except by authority f 

This plea was virtually indorsed by all the other Ameri- 
can missionaries in Western India, and each added remarks 
from which we present a few extracts. The two other mis- 
sionaries at that time in Bombay were Rev. Messrs. Fair- 
bank and Bowen. 

Rev. S. B. Fairbank's Plea for Schools. 

"May 25, 1853. 
"Rev. R. Anderson, D.D., 

" Secretary A.B.C.F.M. : 

" Reverend and Dear Sir : There is an important subject 
on which I, as well as my brethren of the Bombay mission, 
believe it a duty to address you. It has been to me a source 
of much regret that our missions in this presidency are losing 
their promising young men. I will give you some facts for 
illustration of my meaning, and then present the conclusion to 
which my mind, in revolving this and connected subjects, has 
arrived." 

3ientioning the case of Krishna, the Brahman convert at 
Satara, Mr. F. says : " I was pleased with his appearance, and 
embraced an opportunity for free conversation with him. He 
conversed with ease and propriety in English. In the course 
of the conversation, he gave me the reasons that had decided 
him to leave the Satara mission and go to Bombav. He said 



REV. S. B. FAIRBANKS PLEA FOR SCHOOLS. 93 

lie wished to be well qualified for the ministry. He had much 
discussion with educated young men who were versed in infi- 
del objections, who had learned to scout Christianity, and felt 
proud of their deistical theology. He felt the need of a more 
thorough training, and of much more study and knowledge, 
and had determined to have it. The mission at Satara was 
dear to him. He preferred to labor in his own (the American) 
mission. But there was a fitness for his work demanded which 
he could not get there, and must have. I need not recapitu- 
late the arguments I used to persuade him to continue his work 
as assistant, and by reading, and the help of the missionaries, 
to make up his deficiencies. He said he had tried it, but could 
not improve much in that way. It was only in an institution, 
connected with others, inspirited by discussion and fired by 
emulation, that he could hope for satisfactory progress. Two 
days after, he left Satara and proceeded to Bombay." . . 

" In close connection with this case, I am reminded of that 
of Ramchunder Powar, who was baptized in Bombay the 29th 
ult,, by Rev. J. M. Mitchell of the Free Church of Scotland's 
mission, and is now studying in the Free Church Institution. 
On the first excursion I made in the villages after I reached 
Ahmednuggnr, I visited Kadambe, where one of the mission 
schools was located. I examined the school and spent a Sab- 
bath there, intensely interested with the company that kept 
around me for conversation respecting Christianity, though I 
could only stammer a little in Mahrathi. . . I noticed three 
boys in the highest class in the school, in whom I afterwards 
became much interested. They w r ere the sons of the head men 
(Patils) of the two divisions of the village. Two bore the 
family name of Powar, and one of Takte. They then express- 
ed a desire to enter the Seminary at Ahmednuggnr, and a year 
before I left A. for Bombay they had all three become mem- 
bers of the Seminary. Whenever their parents came to Ahmed- 
nuggur, they used to call on me, and I enjoyed talking with 
them very much. 

" After coming to Bombay I lost sight of these, my friends, 
and had not thought of them for a long time, till Ramchunder 
Powar, the eldest of the boys, came to Bombay, in company 
with Ramaji Bhore, and like him, desirous of continuing his 
studies. We could offer them no such means of education as 
they were seeking, and they both became connected with the 



94 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Free Church Institution. Soon it became known that Ram- 
chunder was desirous of baptism, and as his conduct seemed to 
accord with his profession, his Christian friends felt that if, 
after suitable probation, he should remain firm, the seal of bap- 
tism should be granted him. Soon his uncle came to try to 
change his decision, then his father, then his mother. They 
used all the means which Hindus know so well to use, to 
shake his purpose, but were unsuccessful. We approved his 
baptism, but he was not baptized by us, his foster-parents and 
his guides to the Saviour. As he naturally would be, he was 
baptized by those with whom he is now connected, and from 
whom he expects a liberal education. He will probably remain 
with, and labor in connection with that mission. I trust and 
pray that he may become, as he appears likely to, a useful as- 
sistant in the missionary work. But I could wish that he had 
remained with the American mission, and that the fruits he 
may be privileged to gather had also been given to us. 

" I feel sad when I think of Ramch under, and Krishna, and 
Vyenkutrao,* etc., and when I think that this is but the begin- 
ning of the exodus of the promising young men we may be 
privileged to lead to Christ. I feel sad that Ramaji Bhore 
should have left Ahmednuggur, though I can not condemn the 
reason as wholly censurable. Would I not have done the same 
in similar circumstances? I hear that Sidu Sonar is some- 
what inclined to follow in the same course. The current sets 
strong, and I feel convinced that the best young men who are 
brought into the churches of the American missions, as they 
learn their necessities, and see the privileges of others, will 
leave us, and become connected with other missions, where 
they can prosecute to better advantage the study of English, 
etc., namely, those studies thought necessary to a liberal edu- 
cation, and to fit them for licensure and ordination. If these 
young men would go but for a time, and then come back and 
labor with us, it were a less calamity. But until the numbers 
of such persons become vastly greater than now, they will be 
retained where they have gone, and we shall not have their aid 
nor reap the harvest they will cultivate. 

" There is a class of young men in Bombay who are interested 

* These all left us when the Mission Seminary was broken up by a positive 
order from Dr. Anderson. 



REV. S. B. FAIRBANKS PLEA FOR SCHOOLS. 95 

in learning of Christ, Such have frequently come to us for con- 
versation, but no such young man thinks of becoming perma- 
nently connected with us. He would naturally prefer to go 
where he finds a band of similarly-minded youth eager for 
knowledge, and under the instruction of missionaries, who are 
heart and soul engaged in supplying the mental as well as 
spiritual hunger of such inquirers. TFe may gather such young 
men to a discussion. We may spend frequent hours in con- 
versing with and instructing them. They may look to us as, 
in a great measure, their spiritual guides. But for reasons I 
have stated we can not hope to number them among our own 
people, and to encourage the hearts of Christians in America by 
telling them of the good they have been instrumental of doing 
in India, in helping to raise up such champions for Christianity. 
I have earnestly sought, while endeavoring to sow the seed 
beside all waters, and to spread as widely as possible the know- 
ledge of the principles, and practice, and spirit of Christianity, 
to discover also the best way of gathering converts from among 
the heathen. Our relations to you and the American churches 
require that we should not be content with sowing the seed. 
We must also reap, and garner, and preserve. Plow shall we 
get the attention of the vast multitudes that throng Bombay ? 
How draw men aside out of the tide of business and the cur- 
rent of public sentiment, into some eddy where they shall ex- 
amine their position and course ? How secure an earnest and 
pleased study of those things which pertain to their salvation ? 
How persuade them to break their fetters, and join with the 
people of God ? How lead them forth, and bring them in, and 
foster them, as good shepherds of the flock of God ? Perhaps 
we have paid too little attention to gathering together and 
training a native church. Not that it lies in man to convert 
the soul, and supply the continual oil of divine grace ; but some 
modes of operating are better fitted than others to the gather- 
ing a church. The church towards which inquiring souls shall 
look, and into which they shall flee for refuge, must have a 
character, and what shall go to form that character is matter 
for grave consideration. 

u We have expended much time and strength in the publi- 
cation of Christian books and tracts, and in securing their sale. 
This will remain a good department of labor. It must be per- 
severed in with a still greater earnestness, and will require a 



06 MISSION SCHOOLS, 

greater and greater amount of labor. But the results of sueh 
work are as it were comminuted and disseminated through 
the entire country around us, and the direct results, in adding 
to our church of those who shall be saved, is yet to be real- 
ized. . . 

" How feebly, in comparison with what he might do, does 
that missionary war against the empire of Satan, who has 
dropped from his quiver all his polished shafts, and relies on 
his clumsy weapons and untutored skill of the (intellectually 
considered) children that follow with him ! That we may do 
the work set before us in providence, and perform our part in 
providing a Christian literature for the infant church and the 
inquiring community of this presidency, we can not act to good 
purpose, (comparatively,) but with the aid of well-trained, 
liberally-educated assistants, who recognize in us their pastors 
and teachers, and whose efforts it is ours to guide and control. 

" I would say in this connection, that there are causes ope- 
rating, which are waking up the whole community, and it will 
not do for us to attempt quarrying another and lower stratum, 
trying to ignore the ' enlightened' body of young men who 
are now foremost in religious discussions, and whose sentiment, 
and feelings, and spirit must necessarily tinge and leaven the 
whole mass of Hindu society. The rigid strata of Hinduism are 
being broken up and pressed together, and this process must 
go on till they disappear in the volcanic melting, and mingling, 
and re-moulding of society into its future condition. Who 
shall bind the strong man, and take from him the armor where- 
in he trusts ? The battle may be set in array, but the hosts 
wait till the champion finds his equal and his conqueror." 

The following extract from Mr. Fairbank's plea may 
properly be considered in close connection with his testi- 
mony on the platform at the special meeting in Albany, 
March, 1856. Doubtless many at that meeting regarded his 
testimony as strongly in favor of bazaar or street-preaching. 
Such seems not to be the view expressed in this carefully 
written letter. In this Mr. F. writes : 

" So far as Bombay is concerned, I would not advocate the 
expenditure of much mission strength in what is called ' bazaar- 
preaching,' for the expenditure of strength and spirit is too 



REV. S. B. FAIRBANKS PLEA FOR SCHOOLS. U i 

great, and the result generally is that sonic 'fellow of the 
baser sort ' raises an uproar, and the only good accomplished 
by the missionary, who is unable amid the noise and confusion 
to declare his message, is that he can show an example of suf- 
fering patience under abuse. Is not our Saviour's injunction, 
that we cast not our pearls before swine, applicable to such 
efforts ? . . 

" In all such efforts [namely, preaching in our school-houses 
and chapels] there is a necessity for a nucleus. The mission- 
ary must have with him those who constitute a small audience, 
or he will often fail of drawing hearers from out doors, and also 
of keeping them when drawn in. The mission, also, which has 
its nucleus, stands on a vantage-ground. That nucleus is at- 
tractive in many respects. There is society, sympathy, aid, 
standing, and indeed all those facts of social and religious life, 
which are so necessary to a man, and specially to a Hindu, and 
which now bind him in almost inseparable connection with his 
own caste. . . . There is a grand defect in our present 
system. N"ot that any course of effort in which we have en- 
gaged should be given up as unsatisfactory. We may and do 
modify as occasion offers. But there is a desideratum. There 
is a heart wanted to this body of means, which would send the 
healthy life-blood coursing through all its arteries. There is a 
manufactory needed in which the weapons and munitions of 
war shall be prepared. ~We need a first-rate educational insti- 
tution, under the charge of, and in vital connection with, the 
American Missions in Western India. This, it is true, would 
be but a means in the hand of God ; but it would be, among 
other means, as the heart is in the body. . . 

" That such an institution be made available to others than 
Christians ; it has the example of the colleges of Christian 
lands in its favor. It would bring many thinking young men 
under Christian instruction, whom God might see fit to choose 
for his service. It would require no greater expenditure of 
missionary strength than ought to be devoted to teachiug the 
Christian young men. It would give, in itself, to the mission- 
ary teacher the most hopeful audience he could at present pos- 
sibly collect. It would form a magnet of attraction to those 
without, bringing them to hear him with attention and candor. 
... I see no objection to allowing other young men to 
put themselves under so healthy an influence. I should hope 
5 



98 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

their conversion in many cases, and should expect that in most 
they would become theoretically Christianized. I think, too, 
that the best interests of the converts taught would require 
larger classes, etc., than they alone would constitute. 

" Such an institution seems a prime necessity to the Ameri- 
can missions in the Bombay presidency — to conserve, to attract, 
to elevate, to energize, to put us in our proper position, so that 
we may become not merely what we are now considered, an in- 
dustrious corps of sappers and miners, but also a body of occupa- 
tion. ... I have thus briefly sketched the course of 
thought in some of its phases, which has convinced me of the 
expediency and necessity of a first-class literary and theological 
institution in Bombay. I am not considered an educationist, 
in the sense that our Scotch brethren in Bombay are so. But 
I have seen and deplored a great want of our missions. I be- 
lieve the necessity will become more and more palpable and 
imperative, till that want is supplied. I would urge on the 
Prudential Committee the establishment of such an institution 
at the earliest opportunity, and on a broad basis. The times 
demand great efforts, and if we heed not the signs of the 
times, if we shut our eyes to the providences of God, we are 
recreant to the charge committed to us. . . 

" In the work of the Lord, 

" Yours, faithfully, 

" S. B. Faiebank." 

The Rev. George Bowen's Plea for Schools. 

Omitting the preface, Mr. Bowen says : 

" 1. Among the young men of this country, the desire for 
education is very strong, and is daily becoming stronger. 
What they principally seek is an English education. They re- 
gard it as the avenue of success and influence. We may find 
fault with that desire ; we may prefer to see them cling to their 
vernaculars ; we may exert ourselves to make them do so : the 
fact remains. We can not overcome it. We should incur odium 
by attempting to do so. And having the appearance of being 
something providential, it commands our respect. 

" 2. Young men connected with our missions in Western India 
have their full share of this desire for what is termed a liberal 
education. And they are drawn to institutions superintended 



REV. GEORGE BCWEX's PLEA FOR SCHOOLS. 99 

by other missionaries, and the consequence is, that they join 
other missions. This, though not a great evil, is still, I think, 
not the most desirable state of things. It is a reproach to our 
missions in the public estimation that they should be parting 
with their converts in this way. . . 

" 3. If missionaries have not a mind to preach, (that is, to make 
this their principal business,) you can not make them preach 
by shutting up their schools, or withholding the liberty to 
found an educational institution. If missionaries have a mind 
to preach, the fact of their being engaged in teaching some 
hours in the middle of every day will not hinder them from 
preaching. Taking the year round, I doubt if there be in India 
a missionary who preaches (in the technical sense) on an aver- 
age, two hours a day. No missionary connected with the edu- 
cational institutions of Bombay is actually employed in them 
more than twenty-four hours in the week. 

" 4. I believe, as I have always believed, that the greatest 
results of missionary effort shall eventually be seen in connec- 
tion with the preaching of the Gospel. I look for no great and 
splendid spiritual results from educational efforts. As things 
now are, they seem to be expedient ; they seem to be neces- 
sary. A day is coming, doubtless, when the preaching of the 
Gospel will be attended by such displays of the power of God, 
as have never yet been witnessed. That day may be at hand. 
But at present street-preaching is little else than street-quar- 
relling. Wherever you go in Bombay, men present them- 
selves armed with infidel objections against Christianity, or 
with obscene descriptions of its^origin, or with a treasury of 
personal insults, or with an overwhelming volume of voice, or 
in default of all, with handfuls of sand. And the most com- 
plete refutation of their objections, though repeated a hundred 
times, never induces them to relinquish a single one of those 
objections. ... I would not have any thing as a sub- 
stitute for preaching. But I see not why^an educational in- 
stitution, where any native of any caste may come and learn 
Natural History, Natural and Mental Philosophy, Natural The- 
ology, History, English, the grammar of his own language, 
Geography, Logic, the Evidences of Christianity, the Bible — 
why such an institution, particularly cared for by two mission- 
aries, with native assistants, may not exist in conjunction with 
all the preaching of the Gospel that now is in Bombay. 



100 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

" 5. If young men are not afforded the means of getting an 
education such as I have just indicated, they will go to the 
government schools, and get an education from which the more 
beneficent features of the above list are excluded. They will 
thus become infidels. 

" 6. I believe this mission is possessed of the pecuniary means 
of commencing such an establishment. The fund, in my opin- 
ion, should be used ; and I see no better way than this. 

" 7. I am willing to aid in such an institution to any extent 
that may be thought desirable. I am also willing to remain 
disconnected with it. . . In all faithfulness, 

"Yours, 

" Geo. Bowen." 

These impartial views of Mr. Bowen are the more valua- 
ble, as he went to India with views and feelings strongly in 
favor of oral preaching, as the only proper agency. A few 
years' experience led him to the views here expressed. 

In the statements of these three brethren, we have the 
honest convictions of the whole Bombay mission on the 
question at issue. But those brethren did not rest here. 
They knew that their convictions were opposed to the views 
and wishes of Dr. Anderson. For this reason, and to give 
him and the Committee the benefit of all our united views, 
the brethren in Bombay forwarded their own appeals to 
Boston, and immediately sent copies of them to Ahmed- 
nuggur, Satara and Kolapoor, with the following 



"To the Rev. H. Ballanttne, Rev. A. Hazen^, Rev. L. Bis- 
sell, Rev. E. Burgess, Rev. W. Wood, Rev. R. G. Wilder : 

" Dear Brethren : We forward herewith for your perusal 
copies of letters which were dispatched by us to the Rev. Dr. 
Anderson, by the mail of yesterday. It was our wish to for- 
ward with these letters an expression of your views regarding 
our proposal to commence an educational institution in Bom- 
bay. Want of time necessarily prevented this, and as there is 
no other mail for a considerable time, we thought it best not 
to detain the letters. The subject is one in which you will feel 
much interest, and it is proper that the Prudential Committee 



REV. HENRY BALLANTIXE's PLEA FOR SCHOOLS. 101 

should know your feelings and views in regard to it. We wish 
to furnish them with all the light which can be obtained, so 
that they may fully understand the merits of the question. If 
you will kindly peruse these letters, and favor us with an ex- 
pression of your views, we will forward them to the Prudential 
Committee by the first overland mail. . . 

" Yours, very faithfully, 
"R.W.Hume, 
" S. B. Faiebaxk, 
" Geo. Bowen." 

Bev. Henry Ballantine's Plea for Schools. 

This "circular" elicited a reply from Mr. Ballantine, 
signed also by the other brethren at Ahmednnggur, from 
which, we present the following extracts, namely : 

" In reference to the proposed plan of the Bombay brethren 
for the establishment of an educational institution in connection 
with that mission, I have only a few remarks to make, as I 
concur generally in the views expressed by the Bombay 
brethren. 

"1. I believe, with Mr. Hume, that the existence of the 
Bombay mission is at stake. Very few missionaries would be 
willing to work under the circumstances of discouragement 
and humiliation to which our Bombay brethren have been long 
subjected. . . . They are not permitted to reap any of 
the fruits of their labors themselves, because those individuals 
who are favorably affected by these means, are at once drawn 
to other missions,- where they receive religious instruction, 
and when baptized are of course received into those mission 
churches. Now who will be willing to go and labor in Bom- 
bay under such discouraging circumstances ? ... I do 
not believe that any missionaries will be found willing to sup- 
ply the place of the Bombay brethren after they are removed, 
and that that mission must therefore become extinct, unless 
there be a change of mission policy — and I see no other plan 
at present than that proposed by the brethren there. It is 
the only way they can obtain an audience of persons most 
likely to be affected by the truth, under favorable circum- 
stances for making a lasting impression on their minds and 
hearts. . . . 



102 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

" 2. Shall the Bombay mission be given up ? I hope this 
alternative will not be thought of. I know not what we should 
do in the Decean without the Bombay mission. That mission 
is absolutely necessary to the best working of our missions in 
the interior. Besides the remarks which Mr. Hume has made 
on this point, in which I fully concur, I would add that the 
abandonment of our printing-press at Bombay would be, in my 
opinion, of immense detriment to the cause of Christ.* Even 
should it pass into the hands of another mission, this would be 
the case. But especially would the interests of our missions in 
the Decean suffer from giving up our mission in Bombay with 
its efficient native press. We should feel crippled in all our 
operations. . . . 

" 3. I approve of the plan which the Bombay brethren pro- 
pose. . . . They have not the privilege of using the capa- 
city of instructing, which they have with great labor acquired, 
under circumstances where it will turn to the best account. 
They have no means of bringing around them that class of 
minds which they are best prepared to influence, and which 
are the minds which in a few years will influence the great 
mass of the native community. Until they have this educa- 
tional institution which they desire to see established, they are 
shut out from that class of young men entirely, except as op- 
portunities of casual intercourse occur. To a zealous mission- 
ary this is extremely tantalizing and discouraging. . . . An 
institution there, will be of great use to us, as things are at 
present. Our young men will be saved from running to other 
missions, and even some of those who have left us to attend 
the institutions in Bombay may be brought back. As for the 
future we know not what is before us, and it is useless to spec- 
ulate on what may be our necessities before long. The face of 
society is now undergoing* great and rapid changes in the com- 
munity around us. Large classes of educated young men are 
coming forth on the stage, who have been trained in the gov- 
ernment schools, and who are exerting very great influence on 
the masses around them, for they are able to penetrate those 
masses and to diffuse their infidel and atheistic opinions with 
very great success. "We see this process going on, on every 

* The Deputation crippled this press, when in India, and it has since been 
entirely given up, 



EEV. HENRY BALLANTINE's PLEA FOR SCHOOLS. 103 

side. Now we must have the means of reaching these educated 
young men, of commanding their respect, and of bringing 
them around us to hear lectures on science and morals and re- 
ligion. We can not do without these means in Bombay ; the 
only way of accomplishing the object is that, I believe, which 
the brethren there have proposed. . . . We must be pre- 
pared to use the most effective means for reaching the class of 
mind that is to influence the community here for years to 
come. 

" I am glad to see that the brethren in Bombay have come 
boldly up and faced the difficulty before them, and devised a 
plan for overcoming it. It is indeed a question of life or death 
with them. . . . 

"H. Ballantine, 
" A. Hazen, 

" Ahmednuggitr, June 4, 1853. " L. Bissell." 

Rev. A. Hazen, in addition to the above plea, sent a sep- 
arate letter to the Bombay brethren, of which the following 
is an extract : 

" The question of giving up Bombay is the question of giv- 
ing up all Western India, and I can regard it in no other light. 
I should be very unwilling to labor here and no one in Bombay, 
unless circumstances be very different from what I conceive 
them to be. I feel that all the brethren on this side of India 
will enter an emphatic protest against any such step. This 
proposal [for the institution] brings to mind the oneness in in- 
terest of all our missions, and I am very glad to see it is so. 
May the present feeling of fraternity never be interfered with. 
May we all be ready to stand by each other, shoulder to shoul- 
der in this great work. I feel that there is no doubt of a 
unanimous expression of feeling going home in regard to this 
subject, and hence, I trust, great good will result. I am very 
glad you have thought out your plans so successfully." 

Writing on another occasion with express reference to 
Dr. Anderson's views, Mr. Hazen says : ( 'I can not go with 
Dr. Anderson. ... I have never advocated such a 
plan for -schools as Dr. A. makes," etc. 

The Rsv. L. Bissell. also, besides signing the document 



1~04 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

given above, prepared by Mr. Ballantine, sent to Mr. Hume 
the following earnest approval of the proposed institution : 

" I like the plan proposed, and am glad to see it presented 
to the Committee in so strong a light. I trust it will receive a 
candid consideration and a prompt response. It seems to me 
that any doubt of the expediency and immediate necessity of 
an institution of the kind asked for, can no longer remain." 

Rev. Messrs. Burgess and Wood's Plea for Schools. 

From the response of these brethren at Satara, take the 
following extract : 

"The arguments advanced by the brethren of the Bombay 
mission in favor of an educational department of a high order, 
we think sound and conclusive, and we can not see how the 
Prudential Committee can fail to be convinced of the absolute 
necessity of such a department in our Western India missions. 

"The letters of the Bombay brethren, together with the 
communication from the Ahmednuggur mission, have gone so 
fully into the whole subject that little more remains to be said. 
To write our own views would be repeating what they have 
already written. We remark therefore that we concur in 
general with the views expressed in these letters, and we think 
the Prudential Committee should accede to their request. 

" The reason why the Committee have of late not been so 
favorably inclined to educational labors, in their Western India 
missions, appears to be that they wish to have as much time 
and strength as possible given to the work of preaching the 
Gospel. The work of preaching, technically so called, we con- 
sider an important work. We would not have less of preach- 
ing, but we would have more of teaching. And we believe 
that a mission with an educational department, such as the 
Bombay brethren propose, would not do less of preaching, 
with such a department. . . We believe that in such a 
country as this, were the entire field left to us, the best and the 
only true mission policy would be for our missions to have 
schools of a high order. 

"Wm. Wood, 

" Satara, June 16, 1853, " E. Burgess." 



REV. S. B. MUXGEIl's PLEA FOE SCHOOLS. 105 

Again brother "Wood writes : " Our views are similar to 
those expressed in the Bombay documents ; and it seems to 
me there can be but one view by any missionary who has had 
any experience in the field. I can not but feel that our present 
plan of operations is very defective. We ought to have a good 
school in all our missions. . . I have no doubt that could you 
commence a good school, [at Kolapoor,] you would in this way 
gain a more ready access to minds, and preach the Gospel 
more effectively than in any other way." 

Rev. S. B. Munger's Plea for Schools. 

At the time of these earnest pleadings for our schools, 
Mr. Munger was making his second visit to America. But 
as he was still a member of the missions, and having 
changed his views, was hastened back to India, overland, 
in time to be present with the Deputation, it is proper to 
give his honest convictions a place in this connection. He 
had made a permanent record of them and the results of his 
missionary experience, a few years before, in the following 
language, namely : 

" The hope, therefore, of India's emancipation from the 
thraldom of Hinduism, and of her exaltation to the social and 
moral dignity and blessedness which the Gospel of the Son of 
God has power to confer, looks for its most ample realization 
to the Christian education of the children and the youth of the 
nation. . . The use of the Western sciences is as really a 
means of reeducating' the Hindu mi?id, as is the use of the 
Christian Bible and any system of Christian ethics. . . 
The Puranas are alike the source of knowledge in religion and 
science. And, therefore, the endeavor to supplant Hindu sci- 
ence by the introduction of Western sciences, will most surely 
prove the subversion of the Hindu religion." 

These deep convictions and emphatic statements of Mr. 
Munger are found scattered through the history of the Ah- 
mednuggur mission, and more of them will find their ap- 
propriate record in developing the facts of that mission. 

Of the whole band of American missionaries then in 
Western India, the onlv one remaining, whose views have 



106 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

not been given, was myself, in the little new mission at Kol- 
apoor. My views are so well known that it is hardly, neces- 
sary to state them here. From the statements sent to the 
Committee at the time, with those of the other brethren, 
the following brief extracts are sufficient : 

" The valid argument in favor of such an institution is that 
it will bring talented young men under the influence of the 
mission and of Christian truth. . . I regard it the wisest 
policy to have an educational institution of high character con- 
nected with each and all our Mahratta missions, from their ori- 
gin." " I am glad to see your strong position in favor of 
English. It is impregnable. If you can get up such an insti- 
tution in Bombay, I shall rejoice to see it prosper." 

As the need of such a school at Kolapoor has been men- 
tioned in the foregoing paragraph, it may be well to say just 
here, that I was allowed to employ an assistant, a pious 
Indo-Briton, at an expense of some $500 a year. With him 
already in service, such a high-school at K. would have in- 
volved little or no additional expense. In such a school his 
service would have been invaluable. With no such regular 
duty, the benefit of his assistance was scarcely appreciable, 
and I dismissed him from an unavoidable feeling that his 
support was not a proper expenditure of mission funds. 
But this in passing. 

The reader has now before him the unanimous views and 
earnest pleadings of all the American missionaries then in 
Western India, in behalf of schools, and especially of a 
high -school in Bombay. .There was not one dissenting 
voice in our whole number. What was the result? Did 
our senior Secretary remember his own considerate ad- 
vice, namely : " Let the friends of missions consider wheth- 
er opinions formed by wise and good men here at home, 
relative to the internal affairs of the missions, are, on the 
whole, more likely to be right ; than those formed in heath- 
en lands by men equally pious, learned, and discreet, hav- 
ing the same New Testament to guide them" ? In the 
spirit of this advice did he say : " Brethren, you are all 
united in your views. You have been on the ground many 



rev. e. w. hume's second plea for schools. 107 

years, bearing the burden and heat of the clay. You know- 
better about this matter than we do. You shall have your 
schools." Was this the generous response? Let us see. 
The historical record runs as follows : 

Those earnest appeals from all the missionaries, pleading 
for the school with all jiossible haste, were dispatched from 
India the last of May, 1853. A prompt reply might have 
reached them in about four months. A brief acknowledg- 
ment of their receipt w T as penned in Boston, September 9th, 
but not forwarded till November, and reached India Jan- 
uary 9th, 1854 ! It bore a postscript of November 1st, saying 
it had been forgotten or mislaid in Dr. A.'s desk. But the 
most grievous thing about it, to those dear brethren in 
Bombay, was, that it did not grant their request. They had 
waited some eight months, as patiently as possible, hoping 
and expecting permission to put the school in operation and 
thus find relief from their embarrassing position. But the 
letter brought no such permission It recognized the lucid, 
unanimous and weighty character of their arguments, and 
the necessity of some sort o± a school somewhere , but doubts 
were expressed as to its proposed character and locality, 
and several questions were propounded ; as for instance : 
" Would you have proposed such an institution at Bombay, 
were you not subjected to the annoyance of the Scotch and 
English high-schools in that place ?" " Would it not be 
necessary . . that it be every way equal to the English 
and Scotch schools?" etc. The hopes of those brethren 
were disappointed by this letter. What could they do ? 

It is sufficient here to record what they did do. Three 
days after its receipt Mr. Hume penned a long reply, from 
w^hich the following extracts are taken : 

Kev. R. W. Hume's Second Plea for Schools. 

"Bombay, 12th January, 1854. 
" Rev. Rufus Anderson, D.D., 

" Secretary to the A.B.C.F.M. : 
" Dear Sir : Your letter to the brethren of the Bombay 
mission, dated 9th September, 1853, with its postscript dated 
November 1st, reached us on the 9th instant. With you we 



108 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

regret the delay that has taken place in forwarding that letter, 
and hasten to reply to your inquiries. . . Such an institu- 
tion would present a most important field of missionary labor. 
(1.) It is needed for converts, the children of converts, and 
others more or less connected with the mission. (2.) It is 
needed as a means for bringing the missionaries into contact 
with young men and youth of respectability and influence — 
the class which, above all others, is the most hopeful and im- 
portant. (3.) The rising generation is thirsting for knowledge; 
there is on all sides a great and growing desire for the acqui- 
sition of English ; one that can not and will not be repressed. 
This is a most important fact in reference to our field of labor, 
and one which we are called on to turn to account. As for- 
merly remarked, we should discern the signs of the times and 
fall in with the arrangements of ail all-wise and holy Provi- 
dence. If we are to act on the rising generation of young 
men, if we would bring them under our influence and the influ- 
ence of the Gospel, then we are in a manner shut up to the 
course already recommended. (4.) If there are not mission 
schools of a high order, then the enterprising, influential youth 
who desire an education, and who are hereafter to guide the 
destinies of this great country, must go to the government 
schools, from which Christianity is excluded, and where, al- 
most as a matter of course, they become deists and infidels. 
And is the Church of Christ to sit down contented, and leave 
all the leading minds of the rising generation to be trained 
under such influences ? If so, then alas ! for India. Alas ! 
for the native churches, and for the cause of Christ in this 
country. Who are to control the periodical press ? Who are 
to discuss and settle all the religious and social questions which 
for years to come must agitate native society ? Who, during 
the next half-century, are to mould public opinion, provide 
books for the people, and, under God, fix the character of suc- 
ceeding generations ? 

" All this must, for the most part, be done by those who re- 
ceive a superior education. It is as true here as elsewhere, 
that knowledge is power. Here, as elsewhere, educated men 
will mould the opinions of the people. And if those educated 
men are generally deists and infidels, bitterly opposed to the 
Gospel, then what an obstacle must it be to the progress of 
truth and righteousness ! 



REV. K. W. HUME S SECOND PLEA FOR SCHOOLS. It 9 

"If, therefore, Ave had the whole ground to ourselves, and 
there were no missionary institution in Bombay, for imparting 
a superior education, it would be our imperative duty to found 
one without delay. If need be, let the common school be dis- 
banded, let street-preaching and tours be sacrificed, and let the 
missionaries as a primary duty, address themselves to the work 
of raising up educated, competent defenders of the truth, and 
thus raise up a barrier against the rising flood of Deism and 
Infidelity. They should pray and strive, first of all, that native 
laborers, workmen who need not be ashamed, may be sent 
forth into this great vineyard. The soul of the most ignorant 
and humble individual is indeed of infinite value ; but in a mis- 
sionary point of view, a single individual of education and 
talents, who can maintain an aggressive warfare with ignor- 
ance, error, and superstition, is worth scores and even hun- 
dreds of feeble, ignorant converts, who need to be carried 
and cared for like new-born children. 

u In giving a prominent place to education, the other mis- 
sions in Bombay evince a practical wisdom which is deserving 
of the highest commendation. They are acting in keeping with 
the spirit of the times — in keeping with the circumstances in 
which they are placed, in the midst of a great heathen city. 
Their plan may not be the best in all its details, but they are 
wise in giving special prominence to the Christian education of 
the rising generation. And such is the deep and general con- 
viction of the most judicious and ardent friends of Christ in 
this country. 

" Thus I have given an affirmative answer to your first ques- 
tion. What we might think, or wdiat we might do, in certain 
conceivable circumstances, is however, a minor matter. Our 
duty is to act in view of actual circumstances. And to the 
best of our ability, we have already informed you what those 
circumstances are. It is scarcely necessary to repeat, (1) that 
in connection with each of the other missions in Bombay, there 
is an institution for imparting a superior .education ; such an 
education as is desired by the influential and promising young 
men ; (2) that the converts and the children of the converts 
fully share in the desire for education, and if they can not ob- 
tain it in connection with us, they will obtain it elsewhere — as 
indeed they ought to do ; for outcasts as they are, and hated 
and persecuted by the heathen, they can in no other way 
secure influence and respect. (3) The converts will naturally 



110 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

come under the influence of, and prefer to be connected with, 
the mission in which they or their children are educated. 
Thus the best scholars of our schools, the children of our con- 
verts, and inquirers who share in the desire for education, 
must be drawn away from us to other missions. We are not 
in a position to gather the fruit of our labor. Justice to the 
missionaries ; justice to the churches which sustain them ; and 
justice to the Society with which they are connected, demands 
that such a state of things should continue no longer. We 
enter our deliberate, solemn, and united protest against the 
policy which places the missionaries of the American churches 
in such unfavorable and trying circumstances. And we can 
not believe that either the churches or the Board will for a 
moment consent that this state of things should be perpetu- 
ated. . The times demand that we have an efficient institu- 
tion, and an all-wise Providence is shutting us up to this course. 
Nothing else can save the mission from constant depletion and 
consequent weakness. And why should not the American 
churches have as much practical wisdom, and be as ready to 
come up to the exigencies of the case as the churches of other 
lands ? 

" You ask what we propose regarding expense. . . At 
first we should expect to rent premises, the monthly expense 
of which would probably be from 50 to 100 rupees ; and the 
other expenses ought to be about 200 rupees a month. Prob- 
ably Rs. 250 (= $113) a month, would cover all this expense. 
Ere long, an effort to provide a building should be made, the 
expense of which, land included, should not be less than that 
of the Free Church Institution ; say, about $25,000. If not 
provided for before, this might be raised during your ' Jubilee 
Year.' My hope is, that by proper representations to wealthy 
individuals, the requisite amount may be raised in pretty large 
sums, or by a special effort in some particular locality, without 
at all interfering with the general income of the Board." 

It is proper to say here, the annual interest of the money 
spent by the Deputation, if well invested, would, I think, 
have supported this High-School which they went to sup- 
press, in perpetuo. Or, it would have met nearly half the 
cost of the building desired, and brother Hume could easily 
have raised the balance in India, in a twelve-month. 



rev. e. w. hume's second plea for schools. Ill 

Mr. Hume continues : " I am not unaware of the. difficulty 
of raising money, but the same spirit that is filling our own 
land with academies, colleges, and theological seminaries, if 
properly enlightened and called forth, will not fail to provide 
a suitable institution for the oldest mission of the Board, lo- 
cated as it is in a city of more than half a million of people, 
and the chief centre of influence to all Western India and the 
adjacent countries. No part of. the heathen world, as we 
believe, presents a more inviting field for missionary opera- 
tions. And no where is the call for superior education, in con- 
nection with such operations, more unmistakable and imper- 
ative. . . 

" If this mission is to be doomed to a living death, then all 
plans for the training of candidates for the ministry is but 
building castles in the air. I will only add that the almost in- 
dispensable necessity for superior educational institutions in 
connection with missions, especially in large towns, is now all 
but universally acknowledged by missionaries and the friends 
of the Gospel in India. And this conviction has been arrived 
at, not as the result of mere theory, but in spite of all previous 
theories. It is the result of long and general experience, and 
an intimate acquaintance with the circumstances of the field. 
This fact certainly is deserving of some weight in the minds 
of missionary committees at home ; and those who venture to 
set it at naught, assume a very great responsibility. 

" By far the greater portion of the aggressive power of the 
native churches is the fruit of mission schools, and especially 
of the institutions for imparting a superior education. Some- 
thing has been gained through the conversion of pundits, 
[heathen] teachers of common schools, and others who in 
various w r ays have been brought into long-continued and inti- 
mate connection with the missionaries The converts who 
have been gathered in as the fruit of bazaar preaching and 
tours — what is sometimes designated evangelistic, in opposi- 
tion to educational operations — have generally been ignorant 
and uninfluential ; most of them have been from the lower 
castes, and have added little or nothing to the moral power 
of the Church. They have generally exerted but little — very 
little aggressive influence; and too often have hung like a 
dead weight upon the mission. . . I would advocate edu- 



112 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

cational institutions, not in place of preaching the Gospel, but 
because in ihem and through them the Gospel can here be 
best brought into contact Avith the mind and the heart of the 
community. To designate as an educationalist him who labors 
in an institution, instructing the pupils in the Bible, the evi- 
dences of Christianity, and the higher branches of useful learn- 
ing, and to term him a preacher of the Gospel who labors in 
the bazaars and villages, is simply an abuse of terms. The 
former preaches the Gospel as truly and as much as the latter ; 
and in far more favorable circumstances. 

" Such are my present convictions, with which those of the 
other members of the mission fully agree. Such has been the 
experience of the India missions, as a whole ; and suclj are the 
well-known opinions of the great majority of the missionaries 
in this country. . . 

" Praying that you and the Committee may be guided in 
this and all other matters with wisdom from on high, I remain, 
in the service of Christ, Yours very faithfully, 

"R. W. Hume." 

Rev. S. B. Fairbank's Second Plea for Schools. 

Mr. Fairbank approved of Mr. Hume's letter, and sent to 
Dr. Anderson additional remarks, of which the following 
extracts speak for themselves : 

" Your disappointment and grief on account of your letter's 
being delayed so long, have found abundant sympathy in my 
own feelings. I regret the necessity laid on me of writing at 
this time, . . but my views and feelings when I glance at the 
urgent necessities of the case, impel me to write by this first 
mail, however briefly. . . 

" The necessity, in any case, of a good school, and of such 
an one substantially as we look for, appears to me undoubted. 
I look on it as a calamity too great to be measured, that this 
mission did not, from its origin, sustain a first-rate school, one 
which by this time should have come to have its graduates in 
places of trust and influence, not only as religious teachers, and 
helpers to the missionary in his peculiar work of proclaiming 
the Gospel, but also as government servants, and as school- 
masters, as doctors and as merchants. I would then answer 
your first question definitely in the affirmative, only omitting 



REV. G. BOWEN'S SECOND PLEA FOR SCHOOLS. 113 

the word just in the phrase 'just such a school.' I confident- 
ly expect that the Bombay mission will one day have such an 
institution, and believe that the sooner it is undertaken the 
better — the better for the cause of Christ here, and especially 
the better will it be to render visible and tangible the results 
of the labors of this mission. I do not think our labors are 
lost now, but as we are, their results are and must be lost sight 
of, or appear under forms that ice can hardly recognize them, 
much less map them down for you and for the encouragement 
of the American churches. . . 

" I must be very specific as to the necessity of a school in 
Bombay. A school someichere will do us little good. Each 
mission must have a high-school, an academy perhaps it might 
be called. I think Bombay should have its collage as well as 
its academy. And these should admit, up to a certain limit, 
those who wish to attend, though not of our converts or their 
children, at least till we have a larger number of promising 
youth. There is an interest and a benefit in numbers. Almost 
no man, (and especially no Hindu,) will develop and grow in* 
a class alone by himself, or with one or two others, as he will 
in a class of twenty. Do I open my mouth wide ? I am 
straitened in saying these things. I would ask more, but 
fear you would think the plan too broad. If w x e come up 
towards the necessity of the case, as seen in the vista of the 
future, we should plant a Yale College, with its feeders, their 
body of teachers, and its faculty, its library, and museum, and 
apparatus, and all its means of influence. . . 

" As a means of training our young men for helpers, and as 
a means of adding to their ranks from among those who are to 
mould the mind of this nation, as a means of leavening the 
community with truth, and as a place for the dwarfed germ of 
this mission to root and flourish in, I earnestly look for a first- 
rate educational institution in Bombay. I am yours in Christ, 

" S. B. Fairbank." 

Rev. George Bowen's Second Plea for Schools. 

From Mr. Bowen's second letter we take only the follow- 
ing, namely : 

"Bombay, Jan. 13, 1854. 

"My Dear Dr. Anderson: With reference to yours of 
Sept. 9th I am glad to see that you appreciate in some mea- 



114 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

sure the difficulty and disadvantage under which we as a mis- 
sion labor. You say, 'It is clear that you ought not to remain 
in your present helpless state ' — in other words, that some 
means should be found of placing our mission on a footing 
equal to others, w T ith respect to the ability of presenting attrac- 
tions to Christian young men who are desirous of obtaining an 
education. You are unwilling, however, that we should enter 
into competition with other educational institutions, or become 
too prominently educational. You suggest that a seminary at 
Ahmednuggur would answer the purpose. I do not think this 
would obviate the difficulty. The town of Bombay is swallow- 
ing up the presidency. It is the metropolis of India in a differ- 
ent sense from that in w 7 hich our great cities are metropolises. 
The current sets more and more strongly hitherward. I could 
not do more than repeat, so I will only refer to our letters, 
written in May and June past, upon this subject, and upon the 
strong desire possessed by the younger portion of the com- 
munity for an education. India is awaking, and like a Casper 
, Hauser, needs to be taught every thwig. The younger men, 
who are likely to be withdrawn from us, wish to know not only 
Western theology but every thing Western. To run the gaunt- 
let of merely secular instruction in government schools, is a 
more dangerous thing here than it is in our country. 

"I do not wonder that you shrink from encouraging us to 
launch ourselves into an educational sea. You feel that while 
education is a great want of India, we are here to supply a 
greater want. But would the Gospel be less preached under 
the proposed circumstances than it is now? I do not think 
so. I believe the contrary would be the case. . . 

" I continue to preach in the streets, and wherever the peo- 
ple so congregate that I can quietly talk to them. . . Occa- 
sionally I am maltreated or am mobbed. But I do not suffer 
my mind to dwell on these occasional unpleasantnesses. . . 
I have never forgotten what you said to me upon my embarka- 
tion, namely, that I should consider myself rather the servant 
of the Lord Jesus Christ than of the Board. Upon this I have 
acted, feeling that the highest interests, indeed that the only in- 
terest of the American Board, is that I should fulfill my course, 
and hear from my heavenly Master, ' Hail ! well done.' To 
this end pray for me, etc. I am, faithfully, 

" Geo. Bowen." 



REV. H. BALLANTINE's SECOND PLEA FOR SCHOOLS. 115 

This second series of pleadings for their school, by the 
three Bombay brethren, was sent to all their brethren in 
the Deccan, as was the first, and elicited a second series of 
remarks, from which we can afford space for only very brief 
extracts, as follows : 

Kev. H. Ballantine's Second Plea for Schools. 

" 1. In reference to the first inquiry, I have no hesitation in 
saying, that were there no educational institutions in operation 
in the other missions at Bombay, it would, in one point of view, 
be much more important than it is now, that our brethren 
should have such an institution as they propose. Were our 
mission the only mission in Bombay, and were the government 
institutions there turning out deists and infidels yearly upon 
the community, as they now are, all would acknowledge the 
necessity of a Christian institution to exert a counteracting in- 
fluence, and to raise up young men, who should be prepared to 
maintain the cause of truth and religion. 

" The want has been to some extent supplied by the educa- 
tional institutions established by the other missions. At the 
same time, the very existence of those institutions renders it 
very important that our brethren should have their institution 
also ; for unless they do their part with the other missions in 
counteracting the influence of the educated young infidels, and 
in raising up young men to do battle for the truth, our mission 
will fall behind the other missions in character and influence, 
and gradually be more and more shut out from all access to 
the influential classes of the native community. 

" There is, then, an independent argument for such an in- 
stitution as is desired at Bombay, apart from the educational 
institutions of the other missions, and there is an additional 
reason, from the very existence of those institutions, why we 
should have one there, and this last reason is perhaps the most 
important one in the present circumstances of our Bombay 
brethren. If other missionaries in Bombay were allowed to 
preach the Gospel, and the mouths of American missionaries 
were shut by the government, it would be thought at once 
that we had not the means of exerting our appropriate in- 
fluence for the diffusion of the truth, and therefore it would be 
best for us to go somewhere else. And in very much the same 



116 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

light do I view the question of teaching the young men of 
Bombay. 

" 2. In reference to the second inquiry, I think that we 
ought to be prepared to give as good an education to young- 
men in Bombay as they can obtain in the other mission insti- 
tutions, so far at least as an academical and collegiate course is 
concerned. . . I am, therefore, of opinion, that the breth- 
ren in Bombay should be allowed their institution, and it ap- 
pears to me that an expenditure of Rs. 250 a month, or Rs. 
3000 (=some $1350) a year, (which, I have no doubt, will be 
sufficient for the support of such a school,) could not be in- 
curred for a more important object. I do not think that there 
would be any necessity for purchasing premises or erecting 
buildings for some time to come, and perhaps not at all. . . 

" Could the Prudential Committee see the facts as we see 
them here, I have no doubt they would urge us to do far more 
than we are now doing in this department of labor, and would 
readily grant us all that we ask. 

U H. Ballantine. 

"Ahmednuggce, Jan. 19, 1S54." 

Rev. L. Bissell's Second Plea for Schools. 

Mr. Bissell indorsed the views of our Bombay brethren 
and of Mr. Ballantine in the following language : 

" I concur in the statements of the brethren at Bombay, in 
reply to Dr. Anderson's letter of inquiry respecting an educa- 
tional institution, and in the remarks of Mr. Ballantine. I be- 
lieve in the validity of the reasons assigned for the immediate 
establishment of such an institution at Bombay. A single in- 
stitution of the kind at one of the Mahratta missions would 
doubtless be a great advance upon our present position, and 
might save us many valuable laborers, but only a small part of 
its advantages could be received by more than one mission. 

Lemuel Bissell." 

Kev. A. Hazen's Second Plea for Schools. 

" I concur in the statements of the brethren at Bombay in 
reply to the inquiries of Dr. Anderson, and in the remarks 
made by brother Ballantine. In addition I would remark, that 
there seems to be a local demand for an educational institution 



REV. W\ WOOD'S SECOND PLEA FOR SCHOOLS. 117 

of a high order in the vicinity of the present operations of our 
mission. None of the existing institutions are in that part of 
the city. A school in the neighborhood of the mission press 
would afford advantages to a dense population now unsupplied 
with such privileges. The common-schools in connection with 
our mission are in that vicinity. The Grant Medical College 
is also near the press. There should seem to be room enough 
in any part of that city of half-a-million inhabitants for another 
institution, but all the eastern part of the city is unoccupied 
ground. 

" I earnestly hope the requisite permission for opening a 
high-school may be granted without delay. 

" A. Hazex." 

The letters of our Bombay brethren, in their journey 
around the missions, came next to Satara. Brother Burgess 
bad left for America, but brother Wood was there and 
added a second series of remarks, from which we take ex- 
tracts, as follows : 

Hev. W. "Wood's Second Plea for Schools. 

" Much more might be said in urging the importance of hav- 
ing a higher order of schools than now exist in the missions of 
the American Board in Western India. . . With the best re- 
ports we can give, the ablest, clearest statements we can make, 
it must be very difficult, not to say impossible, for the Commit- 
tee at such a distance to look at things here as they really 
exist. When we tell them that their four Western India mis- 
sions of Bombay, Ahmednuggur, Satara, and Kolapoor are 
located in the midst of a population half as large as that of the 
United States, do they fully comprehend the fact ? Do they real- 
ize that Ahmednuggur is as far from Bombay as Boston is from 
New-York ? That Satara is as far from Bombay and Ahmed- 
nuggur as Albany is from New-York and Boston ? and that 
Kolapoor is 80 miles south of Satara? Do they realize that 
while they can travel from Boston to New-York or Albany in 
ten hours, it takes us as many days to travel the same distance ? 
Do they realize that the population of the Satara state alone 
{my field I) exceeds the population of Maine, New Hampshire, 
and Vermont? Certainly we can not believe that they do 



118 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

when they gravely ask the question, if one school located at 
A.hmednuggiir will not answer for us all. Well has brother 
Hume remarked that a school at Ahmednuggur would be of 
little use to the mission at Bombay ; and we may with equal 
propriety add, vice versa, a school in Bombay would be of little 
use to any of the other missions in the Deccan. 

" But let ns come to a few facts. The brethren have said, 
and with truth, that the rising generation of this land, educated 
in the Government schools, are educated infidels. The highest 
Government educational institutions in Western India, are the 
Elphinstone College in Bombay, and the Poona College in 
Poona. These institutions furnish all, or nearly all, the teachers 
of the government schools scattered throughout the land. 
And, so far as I know, these teachers are thoroughly infidel in 
sentiment ; and they are assiduous in their efforts to instill their 
infidel sentiments into the minds of their pupils. Such a 
teacher was appointed at the head of the Government school 
in Satara, a little more than a year ago, and as a fruit of his 
efforts, in less than six months the young men of his school 
came into our meetings for religious discussion, and boldly af- 
firmed that ' there is no God.' Just such men are being 
scattered all about the country, filling all the offices of govern- 
ment. Such a man is at Wai, a large town of 10,000 souls to 
the northwest of this. He is well educated, well read in infi- 
del books, and has made his boast of turning away Christians 
from the faith, and of his intentions of turning away others. 
Another such man is at Kurrad, 30 miles to the south of this, 
with a population of 10,000. And such are scattered about in 
all the larger towns. . . They gather around them the youth, 
and instill their infidel sentiments into their minds. And what 
have we to oppose this tide of influence ? Scarcely nothing. 
True we have books. We have schools of a certain kind. We 
preach on the Sabbath, and on week-days. We make tours in 
the villages. This is all well ; but this is not all we want. We 
want another weapon of attack ; and I believe each mission 
must have it to fight successfully. That weapon is a good 
school. With such a school in active operation, I should ex- 
pect during my missionary life to effect fourfold more than 
without one. Wm. Wood. 

" Satara, January 24, 1854." 



REV. R. G. WILDER's SECOND PLEA FOR SCHOOLS. 119 

What peculiar force do these last words gather from the 
subsequent history of that mission ? Only one or two con- 
verts gathered in for six years, and from the lowest caste. 

Rev. R. G. Wilder's Second Plea for Schools. 

These letters and remarks of all the brethren came last of 
all to me at Kolapoor, and again I joined my feeble testi- 
mony, with that of the other brethren, in favor of the school 
for which they were pleading. My views will be sufficiently 
understood from the following brief extracts : 

" I have perused these papers with interest, and am glad to 
see the necessity of a good institution in connection with each 
of our missions so generally conceded and ably urged. I need 
not repeat my conviction, that I regard it the wisest policy to 
have an educational institution of high character, in which Eng- 
lish shall be taught to some extent, connected with each and all 
our Mahratta missions from their origin. . . 

" I fully concur in the views expressed, that one institution 
can not supply the wants of all our Mahratta missions. All the 
interests involved, and more especially all past experience, is 
sternly opposed to such an arrangement. 

" The Prudential Committee can have little idea of the pains- 
taking, strength-consuming labor involved in getting up and 
sustaining such institutions as we ask for, or they would never 
subject their missionaries to the painful necessity of pleading 
for them in this manner. It is really pleading for permission 
to engage in the most trying, toilsome, life-consuming labor, 
only because of our thorough conviction that it is our most 
effective means of bringing these precious souls to a knowledge 
and belief of the truth." 

Here we have extracts from a second series of arguments 
and pleadings fern every American missionary then in West- 
ern India, showing their deep, unanimous, and abiding con- 
victions in favor of schools, and of this particular institution. 

Commencement and Success of the Institution. 

After forwarding these pleadings to Boston, and waiting 
some four or five months longer for a reply, the Bombay 



120 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

brethren, with the cordial approval of those at Ahmednug- 
gur, decided that then was the most favorable time to com 
mence the Institution, and to wait no longer. Accordingly, 
the school was opened, and to their great gratification, in 
less than two months, it gathered in 150 young men of the 
very class they desired to bring under their teaching and in- 
fluence. The missionaries thanked God and took courage — 
their hearts animated with fresh hopes for the success of 
their labors. 

The number soon increased to 175, who were allowed to 
study English; and the vernacular department, in which 
there was no English allowed, embraced 100 more. The 
time of special favor to this mission seemed to have come. 

Besult of these Second Pleas in Boston. 

But how were these repeated and earnest arguments and 
pleadings of the missionaries received in Boston ? Did the 
Secretary and Committee feel that they ought not and could 
not oppose the united views and earnest convictions of all 
their missionaries, and cheerfully grant their request ? Far 
otherwise. Their brief reply, dated April 10th, 1854, says: 

" The very grave import of your statements . . has decided 
the minds of the Prudential Committee in favor of sending a 
Deputation to India. . . I ought to say that I have no expecta- 
tion whatever, that the Board and the churches of this country 
will be willing to prosecute missions in India, on what we un- 
derstand to be the views of our friend Dr. Duff," etc. 

That the Secretary and Committee felt the force of our 
united, earnest, and repeated arguments and appeals, is suf- 
ficiently evident from the Report of the Deputation. In 
that, it is stated, page 5 : " They did not know what to do ; 
nor did it seem possible to solve the problem except on the 
ground." 

Whence arose this embarrassment? "Was it from any 
recusancy on the part of the missionaries ? This is impossi- 
ble, for in this matter of schools, as in all others, they had 



HOW THE OBJECT WAS EFFECTED, 121 

ever shown themselves ready to obey instructions, however 
much against their convictions. 

Was there any doubt what the combined experience, con- 
victions, and unbiased judgments of the missionaries dic- 
tated in the present instance ? This is not possible, for it 
was the letters and arguments of all the Bombay brethren 
united, and these warmly seconded by every other American 
missionary in Western India, which so embarrassed the 
Committee. Was it not safe to leave such a question to so 
large a body of missionaries on the ground, and knowing all 
the circumstances of the case? (see Dr. Anderson's views, 
page 40.) And if these unbiased convictions of the mis- 
sionaries were to be set aside and the Institution disallowed, 
if this was fully decided upon, then what was the necessity 
of a Deputation at all? Why not have sent by letter the 
frank disapproval of the Committee — based either on their 
judgment merely, or on the want of funds? If the latter 
was the true reason, would not the missionaries have felt it 
more forcibly if sent by letter at the expense of 30 cents, than 
v:hen sent by a Deputation at the expense of ten or twelve thou- 
sand dollars f And who can doubt that they would have 
yielded to the Committee no less submissively ? 

The result would have been the same if the refusal of the 
Committee had been sent by letter. And it is respectfully 
submitted, if the avowed cause of the Deputation to India is 
not an unhappy one ? Taking the facts given in their Ke- 
port, and the reason there assigned for their visit, and how 
is it possible to avoid the plain issue that the Deputation 
went to India and managed to oppose a measure which had 
been urged upon the Committee in voluminous and repeated 
letters, with many and strong arguments, from every one of 
their missionaries then in Western India? 

How did the Deputation effect their Object ? 

The impression has been studiously and widely circulated 
among the patrons of the Board, that all action and changes 
effected, while the Deputation was in India, were effected, 
not by the Deputation, but by the spontaneous votes of the 



122 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

missionaries. Is this impression correct ? Let us examine 
this point. The quotations already given from the two 
series of letters from all the missionaries, represent their ex- 
perience and convictions decidedly in favor of the schools. 
The quotations from Dr. Anderson are equally conclusive 
that his views were directly opposed to the convictions of the 
missionaries ; and that he felt embarrassed by them to such 
an extent, that he made the journey to India on purpose to 
oppose and thwart their views there " on the ground." 

I know it has been affirmed that the Deputation went out 
with no settled views or theories, and only to see what was 
best to be done. But this statement is opposed to the plain 
facts of the case. The emergency which occasioned the 
Deputation contradicts this statement. The terms of their 
instructions show clearly a wish and purpose " to dispense 
with the pioneering and preparatory influence of schools, 
and especially of schools in which the use of the English 
language is a prominent and characteristic feature." Those 
instructions expressly say : 

" It is the strong persuasion of the Prudential Committee, 
that no school can properly be sustained by the funds of the 
Board, in which the vernacular language is not the grand 
medium of instruction." 

It is unmistakable, then, that the Deputation went to 
India with a " settled theory/' and a definite object in view; 
and that object was to subvert the united and repeatedly 
expressed views of all their missionaries there on the ground. 
How did they accomplish this object ? 

Absolute Authority of the Deputation. 

The first instrument employed in accomplishing this 
object is found in their Instructions. The Deputation was 
clothed by the Prudential Committee " with full power and 
authority "to do what they should think best, irrespective 
of the experience and convictions of any or all their mis- 
sionaries in the field. Every man of us knew that he could 
not oppose such "full power and authority " without incur- 



GENERAL MEETING AT AHMEDXCGGUR. 123 

ring displeasure. It became the part of prudence either to 
yield our convictions entirely, or hold them in strict abey- 
ance to this authority, or resign our connection with the 
Board. There seemed no other alternative, and each of 
these three alternatives* was ultimately taken by one or more 
of our number, according to each man's views of prudence 
and duty. This absolute authority, committed to the Depu- 
tation, speaks for itself. Does it not show unmistakably 
the Committee's estimate of the emergency of the case, and 
also the object which they had in view? 

This absolute authority was the first instrument brought to 
bear in accomplishing the object of the Deputation. 

G-eneral Meeting at Ahmednuggur. 

The second step in this process was to secure a general 
meeting of all the missionaries. A call was issued, and we 
all met at Ahmednuggur, Dec. 6, 1854, and continued our 
sessions till Dec. 26— twenty-one days. 

It is an item worth mentioning here, that three of our 
strongest men, namely, Kev. Messrs. Allen, Hume and Bur- 
gess, had left the missions just before the coming of the 
Deputation. The convictions of all three of these brethren 
in favor of the schools were deep and abiding, and there is 
good reason to believe they would not have changed them 
under any pressure. Brother Hume died on his voyage 
home, and the other two retain their convictions unchanged. 

And let me here guard against an impression that such an 
interview with a deputation of our brethren from America, 
on common terms of Christian brotherhood, would not always 
be most welcome to every missionary. There is not a mis- 
sionary of the American Board in India who would not look 
forward to such a meeting with joy, and count its opportu- 
nities for social and religious intercourse as among the 
choicest seasons of Christian fellowship on earth. But for 
such a blessed result this ". full power and authority " must 
be left out of the instructions ; the parity of God's ministers 
and the rights of conscience must be recognized. 

The special object of this general meeting at Ahmednug- 



124 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

gur was not the communion of saints, nor to take friendly 
counsel from each other in regard to the great work of con- 
verting the heathen. Its true object was to secure action by 
the missionaries themselves, which should subvert their own views 
and convictions, previously recorded. * 

The Deputation have taken to themselves credit for not 
having voted in this meeting, and urged this fact to show 
that the action was wholly by the missionaries. Had they 
placed themselves on common ground, and been satisfied to 
urge their arguments and cast their votes with the rest of 
us, well indeed would it have been for us and for the cause. 
But they well understood that two votes would be of little 
avail against nine. They rightly judged that their author- 
ity would effect more than their votes. Hence the plan for 
bringing the missionaries themselves to take action right in 
the teeth of their own experience and practice, and the argu- 
ments and convictions they had so persistently and repeat- 
edly urged with the Committee. Did they succeed in this ? 
Let us see. 

Dr. Anderson's Address at the Opening Session. 

The third step in this process was the written address of 
Dr. Anderson at the beginning of our meeting. He first 
had his instructions read, showing clearly his purpose to 
abolish the schools, and their "full power and authority" 
to execute this purpose. Then came an exposition of the 
policy of the Board — a document which occupied Dr. An- 
derson fifty minutes in the reading. This document was in 
the terms of positive and absolute authority, purporting to 
utter the fixed views and principles of the Committee, which 
must be carried into effect. This document was intended to 
give character, and did give character, to all the doings of 
the meeting. This document has never been published, and 
Dr. Anderson says it never shall be. We asked for a copy 
of it to put on the records of the meeting, but were refused. 
I asked Dr. A. for it myself only a short time ago, and was 
again refused, with the remark added : "It was never meant 
to be published, and never ivill bey 

W. " But why not, Dr. Anderson ? Are you unwilling 



ADDRESS AT THE OPENING SESSION. 125 

the churches should know what means you used to make 
jour influence felt in securing that action ?" 

Dr. A. " I expect to have influence when I visit the mis- 
sions." 

W. "Yes, you ought to have. But ought not your re- 
sponsibility to be coequal with your influence V 

Dr. A. "What do you mean ?" 

W. " I mean just what my question implies. You ought 
to be willing to let the public and the patrons of the Board 
read that document, and be responsible to them for just the 
amount of influence you brought to bear on the mission- 
aries." 

Dr. A. " That document had its use and importance at 
the time ; but the public has no right to it. One brother 
in the Madura mission borrowed it to look over, and took 
the liberty to copy an extract, but I wouldn't let him keep 
the extract he had copied. It was never meant for the 
public." 

W. " How can you reconcile your course in that matter 
with your representation to the public that the action of the 
missionaries was unconstrained and free ?" 

Dr. A. " The Board sent me to India that I might have 
influence. It was because the views of the missionaries 
were wrong, that a deputation was needed. We went on 
purpose to change their views." 

W. " Then why not let the churches and friends of the 
Board know just how great your influence was, and how 
you managed to secure it ?" 

Dr. A. " That document will never be published." 

I will only add, a written application to the Prudential 
Committee has failed to elicit the document in question, and 
it is proper that the churches and pastors should know that 
such a document was read by Dr. Anderson at the opening 
of our meeting, and its pressure brought to bear in securing 
action — a document which has been kept from the public to 
the present time, not even a copied extract of it being allowed 
to remain in the hands of a missionary. The moral signifi- 
cance of this fact I leave to the friends of the Board. 



126 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

I could put on record some of the sentiments of this docu- 
ment, repeated in the subsequent declarations of Dr. Ander- 
son; for instance — "If you can't carry on your operations 
without such schools as you ask for, then we will give up 
our* missions in Western India, and send our men and money 
to China, or some other field :" but the studious care and 
fixed purpose with which that document is withheld even 
from the missionaries, is sufficiently significant. 

Manner in which Action was secured. 

The plan adopted for securing the action of the mission- 
aries was on this wise. A specified subject was called up 
and placed in the hands of a committee. The chairman of 
said committee was required to bring in a written report. 
The chairman of the meeting through all its sessions was 
brother Ballantine, who had plead so earnestly for schools, 
and especially for the proposed high-school, as vital to the 
very existence of the Bombay mission. But we soon found, 
to our surprise, that he ignored his deep and repeated con- 
victions, and at once adopted the views of the Deputation. 
Although he had again and again declared his belief " that 
that mission must become extinct, unless there be a change 
of mission policy, and the Committee grant them the high- 
school they ask ;" although he had declared, " It is the only 
way they can obtain an audience," yet now he at once joins 
the Deputation and helps to abolish it. It is an item of some 
significance that this brother was chairman of our meeting, 
and had the appointment of the committees. 

In case of each subject reported upon, there was a discus- 
sion first, which put the writer thereof in full possession 
again of the views of Dr. Anderson, and in preparing his 
report he had before him two certain facts : 1. That the views 
of the Deputation must, and would he insisted on and carried 
out, whether he embodied them or not. 2. That if he did 
not embody them, he would come under disfavor. 

If any one feels inclined to blame the missionaries for so 
readily changing the views and convictions so earnestly and 
repeatedly avowed and placed on record, let him bear in 



REPORT OK THE BOMBAY INSTITUTION. 127 

mind that it is no trifling matter to incur the displeasure of 
one or two men who have the character, happiness and use- 
fulness, not only of yourself, but of your wife and children, 
greatly in their keeping. Every missionary of the Ameri- 
can Board knows that if he wants to visit his native land, 
the favor must come through the Secretary. If he wants 
an extra grant of money, he must apply to Dr. A. If he 
wants his children, far away from him in America, cared 
and provided for, it is all important that he be on good 
terms with Dr. A. If he wishes to stand fair in reputation 
before the churches at home, he must beware of any whis- 
perings from the Mission-House in Boston that he is "an 
impracticable man." 

But all these considerations failed to secure, on first trial, 
such reports as were desired. Take, for instance, the report 
on this High-School at Bombay. It was known to us all 
that our convictions and pleadings for it had brought the 
Deputation to India ; and that they had come with a fixed 
purpose to suppress it. After discussion, the subject was 
referred to Rev. Messrs. Bo wen and Fairbank, as a commit- 
tee, to draw up a report which should disallow that High- 
School. 

Report of Mr. Bowen on the Bombay Institution. 

Rev. Greo. Bowen was the chairman of this committee, 
and prepared the report, in substance as follows : 

" The English school in connection with the American mis- 
sion in Bombay was opened about the 1st of June last. It is 
known as the American Mission Institution. At the commence- 
ment of the present month (Dec.) there were about 175 pupils 
in it, chiefly Hindus; . . . Instruction is given in the 
word of God, daily, to all classes, by the missionary and the 
three assistants. . 

"In the upper classes, English is the principal medium of 
instruction. In the lower classes the Marathi. 

" Connected with the school are two vernacular schools, in 
which no English is taught. In these are about 100 scholars. 

"The reasons which led to the establishment of this school, 
are the following : 



128 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

" 1. A very great desire has sprung up among the natives of 
this country to obtain a knowledge of the English language, 
literature and science. That which sprang up in Europe, just 
before the dawn of the Reformation, for the classical tongues 
and classical lore, was not more eager or more general. We 
need not now inquire minutely into the origin of this desire for 
English learning on the part of the people of this presidency. 
Neither need we discuss the propriety or otherwise of such a 
desire. We may just remark that there is no mystery about 
its existence. It is perfectly natural under the circumstances. 
Hindus find themselves brought, in the providence of God, 
into contact with a race who exhibit not only great military 
superiority, but a wisdom and ingenuity, an acquaintance with 
undreamt of powers of nature, an extent of knowledge, a com- 
mand of resources, a height of civilization, immeasurably above 
any thing that they were ever in contact with before. One of two 
things could not but result from a meeting of two races so very 
different. Either the inferior race must become disheartened 
and paralyzed by the thought of the unapproachable superior- 
ity of the other, lose its energy and perhaps dwindle away as 
the aborigines of America and the natives of the Pacific Islands 
are doing; or it must be stimulated into a desire to obtain 
those things which seem to be most intimately connected with 
the superiority of the other race. The latter is the case hi 
India. The inhabitants of this country admit the fact of their 
inferiority in the scale of civilization, but are not disposed to 
submit to it as a thing that must inevitably continue to be. 
They have been seized with the spirit of progress. This mani- 
fests itself, of course, more among some classes than others ; 
more in the cities than in the interior ; more among the young 
than the aged ; more among the middling and higher casteSj 
than among those which are reputed the lowest. 

64 What we make use of in our argument is the simple fact. 
The desire exists. It will not be suppressed. It is clearly 
destined to wax stronger and stronger. It just as much de- 
mands our attention as any other fact in the providence of 
God. The young men of Bombay are ready to flock to educa- 
tional institutions where they may obtain a knowledge of the 
English language and the things connected with it ; and they 
are not deterred by the fact that the word of God is there 
taught and the claims of Christianity urged upon them. Shall 



HOW WAS THE REPORT ACCEPTED ? 129 

the missionary avail himself of this readiness on their part, and 
embrace this as one mode of fulfilling the command to preach 
the Gospel to every creature ?" 

But I need not reproduce this able report. Mr. Bowen 
condensed, as well as he could in brief space, the arguments 
for this school already brought to view in the pleadings of 
all the missionaries, and closed his report without one word 
to prepare the way for its abandonment. 

Report committed to another Chairman and changed to suit the 
Deputation. 

Of course Mr. B.'s report was not satisfactory to the 
Deputation. A significant pause ensued. Each looked at 
the others. Dr. Anderson was the first to break the silence. 

"Oh! that won't do — that won't do. You nave not em- 
bodied our views at all." 

Mr. Bowen mildly but firmly replied : 

" Brethren : I know this is not what is wanted. But these are 
my honest views, and such as we have all put on record in 
pleading for this Institution. It is utterly impossible for me to 
embody the views of the Deputation and call them mine ; but 
there is one thing you can do — I will resign as chairman of the 
committee, and you can put in some other brother, who will 
embody the views of the Deputation." 

Brother Bissell was accordingly made chairman of said 
committee, and embodied the views which Mr. Bowen's con- 
science forbade him to do. Brother Bisseli's previous views 
will be remembered, (p. 104.) How ably he now represent- 
ed the views of the Secretary may be seen from his report as 
published by the Deputation. 

How was the Report Accepted ? 

But if the report was against the honest convictions of 
the missionaries, how came they to accept it ? 

The Kev. Myron Winslow, D.D., of Madras, writes: 
'• The Deputation, acting under instructions, no doubt en- 
6* 



ISO MISSION SCHOOLS. 

lightened the mission in regard to the general policy and 
plans of the Board as unfavorable to such a school, and this 
must have greatly aided the decision." JSTot a bad guess 
for one at Dr. Winslow's distance from the scene. 

The manner in which the views of the Deputation came 
into the report has been stated above. When it was ready, 
the question was put as to its acceptance. 

I did not retain a memorandum of the votes on this ques- 
tion, but a large majority, I think, did not vote at all. Hav- 
ing fully expressed their views against the report, they now 
waived their privilege of voting, in deference to the Depu- 
tation. But the report was accepted. To reconcile this ac- 
tion with those spirit-stirring appeals and arguments which 
those same brethren had drawn up and sent to Boston in 
favor of this very school, only a few months before — hie la- 
bor, hoc opus est. 

Some may wonder that the brethren in the opposition 
were not more careful to have their negative votes recorded. 
On this point the following considerations may be men- 
tioned : 

1. After a faithful exposition of views and arguments, 
each felt, I have done my duty. The Deputation know my 
honest convictions, and if they press their views against the 
known experience and convictions of my whole missionary 
life, they must be responsible. My duty and responsibility 
cease with my avowed convictions and arguments. 

2. Only two of all our number had any personal interest 
and connection with the Bombay institution. The rest, in 
all their pleadings, had acted most disinterestedly, and had 
opposed their views to those of the Secretary most reluct- 
antly, and with feelings of much pain and regret that such 
a necessity had arisen. Is it strange if some felt, Why risk 
displeasure which may affect my happiness and usefulness, 
by pressing my views so far as to vote, and especially when 
the question involved does not affect my own labors ? 

3. It was an item of no little importance to most of us 
that the Deputation assured us again and again, that our re- 
ports would have no authority. I did not suppose they were 
to be printed even, and no intimation of this kind was given 



EMPLOYMENT OF HEATHEN TEACHERS. 131 

•until near the close of our sessions. Other brethren have 
told me of their surprise at this result, and at the use sub- 
sequently made of these reports. I think none of us had 
any idea that there was a purpose ultimately to indorse 
them and invest them with the authority of the Prudential 
Committee. On this last point, however, I speak only for 
myself and some six of my associates, who unhesitatingly 
expressed their surprise as soon as the result was known. 

But all the. brethren will remember the frequency and 
emphasis with which the Secretary assured us that our re- 
ports would have no authority. 

These considerations may not be sufficient to justify the 
brethren in the opposition for not recording their negative 
votes, but, probably, most amiable men, longing for Christ- 
ian harmony, would have felt their influence, and waived 
the privilege of voting, as they did. 

Votes for the Employment of "Heathen Teachers." 

And yet, even with these considerations pressing upon 
our minds, we sometimes did feel constrained to record our 
votes against the wishes of the Secretary. On the subject 
of employing "heathen teachers" after discussion, in which 
the Deputation always engaged without limitation, when 
the question was finally put to vote: "Is it well to employ 
heathen teachers V 

Two brethren, Messrs. Hazen and Munger, said: "No." 
The remaining seven of us said : " Yes." 

And yet, with these votes on record, brother Hazen drew 
up his report on this subject, in accordance with the wishes 
of the Deputation, and the next morning the Secretary read 
a brief statement, saying that no schools ivith heathen teachers 
will be any longer tolerated in any of the missions ! The inter- 
dict was unqualified, allowing not one single exception. 

But this question is introduced here only to show the 
manner in which action was secured. It is time that we 
return to the history of the Bombay mission and its high- 
school. 



132 MISSION SCHOOLS. 



Suppression of the Bombay Institution. 

After brother Bissell had embodied the views of the Dep- 
utation, as above mentioned, and his report had been accept- 
ed by the assent of a few, the rest remaining silent, Dr. An- 
derson took action, and the days of this promising institution 
were numbered. He allowed it to complete one year of its 
existence, and it then ceased to be. Thus issued the earn- 
est and repeated arguments and pleadings of every mission- 
ary in behalf of this institution ! 

Can we wonder that the special committee on this mission, 
the next year, 1856, spoke of the "peculiar embarrassments 
under which it had labored," and reported that " the condi- 
tion of the Bombay mission is less encouraging than we 
should all desire" ? 

Its present condition is far from encouraging. Not only 
was this English institution disbanded, by the action of the 
Deputation, but its girls 1 boarding -school, and the day -schools 
taught by heathen teachers, were also interdicted. Their 
hundreds of interesting children and youth were sent away, 
"from the missionary, from the Bible-class, from the Sab- 
bath-school, from the house of prayer, to feed on the mount- 
ains of heathenism."* 

The little native church in the Bombay mission is weak 
in numbers, talents and graces. I am aware of but two ad- 
ditions to it since the action of our Deputation in 1854 ; and 
instead of being a witnessing church, aggressive in its cha- 
racter, it is hardly able to maintain its own position and num- 
bers. Only one missionary (Rev. A. Hazen) remained to watch 
over the remnant of that mission when I left India in 1857; 
and although just before the coming of the Deputation he 
had plead for this mission so earnestly, affirming that, " The 
question of giving up Bombay is the question of giving up 
all Western India" (see page 103,) yet he was now so dis- 



* General lamentation for precisely the same class of pupils and schools 
which were dismissed in the financial crisis of 1837 for want of funds. An- 
nual Report, 1838, page 42, etc. 



RESULTS OF SCHOOLS IX OUR BOMBAY MISSION. 133 

couraged with its prospects, that almost the last remark I 
heard from him was, that he would not turn his hand over 
to prevent the abandonment of that mission. He has since 
returned to America, and a young brother temporarily fills 
his place and prolongs the feeble existence of the mission. 

It will be remembered that the Eev. E. W. Hume, in 
pleading for the English school at Bombay, urged that it 
was necessary to the " very existence" of the mission, saying: 
11 It is a question of life and death" Mr. Ballantine fully in- 
dorsed this view, saying: " 1 "believe with Mr. Hume that the 
existence of the Bombay mission is at stake." Were they right 
on this point ? 

The history of the schools in our Bombay mission here 
comes to a close. From its origin, it has been preeminently 
a preaching mission. In no mission has the experiment of 
faithful vernacular preaching been more extensively and 
thoroughly tried. Hall, Nott and Newell, those earliest, 
able and most devoted missionaries of the American Board, 
who laid the foundation of this mission in many prayers 
and tears, were eminently preaching missionaries. They 
used to visit the temples, markets and streets of Bombay 
daily, and often many times a day, for successive years, to 
preach Christ to those degraded idolaters. But what was 
their experience ? After the most faithful and persevering 
efforts of this kind, we hear them exclaim : " But alas ! 
when we fix our eyes on the people, all is dark as night." 
" So far as man can see, all seems to be as the seed that fell 
by the wayside." And though they still persevered in 
preaching efforts, yet they felt forced to resort to schools as 
the only agency which would bring the most hopeful class 
of the heathen under their stated instruction and influence. 

Results of Schools in our Bombay Mission. 

This agency proved effective, and they rejoiced, thanked 
God and took courage. They employed it to the extent of 
their means. A long line of worthy successors has entered 
into their labors, confirmed the wisdom of their plans, and 
kept in operation these valuable schools. We have seen 



134 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

these schools increased at times to more than thirty, acting 
as so many glorious lights in dark centres of heathenism, 
and diffusing an elevating and benign influence through 
large masses of the community. We have seen the entire 
native population of Bombay thoroughly aroused by means 
of these schools, engaging in various forms of opposition, 
and sending petitions to government, entreating it to inter- 
fere and prevent these schools from diffusing a knowledge 
of the Christian religion. We have seen the influence of 
these schools extending wider and wider, resulting in an 
earnest and almost universal desire among intelligent Hin- 
dus for a knowledge of the Western arts and sciences and a 
liberal education, revolutionizing the sentiments of the peo- 
ple in regard to female education, and many other subjects 
closely connected with their well-being, and producing very 
marked progress in intellectual and moral improvement. 
We have seen " heathen teachers" and pupils yielding to the 
influence of this stated Christian instruction, rendered effect- 
ive by the spirit of God, and they at length brought to con- 
fess their faith in Christ, and admitted to the holy ordinances 
of the Christian Church. 

The vision which, in prospect, so cheered the hearts of 
those first devoted missionaries, when, toil-worn and weary, 
and sighing over the indifferent, noisy and insolent hearers 
which they found in the streets and the temples, they were 
wisely led to resort to these schools — the vision of their ul- 
timate influence on the native community, has been more 
than realized. India is no longer what she then was. Those 
early missionaries foresaw that children and youth educated 
in these schools, could not believe in idols and the thousand 
foolish superstitions of their fathers. It is even so. In the 
vicinity of all the older missionary stations in India, a genera- 
tion has already arisen who discard many of the errors and 
superstitions of their ancestors, and have adopted views and 
practices which lead the old orthodox Hindus to despair of 
their faith, and to predict the speedy downfall of the whole 
fabric of Hinduism. A blessed result has accrued from these 
mission schools in Bombay which can not be estimated in 



RESULTS OF SCHOOLS IN THE SCOTCH MISSION. J 85 

time. And yet -the fruit lias not been garnered up in 
our own mission. Our native church there is weak and al- 
most without influence. It is not a living, active, aggressive 
church. Of the fifty-seven adults received to its commu- 
nion from its origin, I can learn of only eight or nine now 
constituting its entire membership. Why is this? Why 
have so few converts been gathered in? Why have the 
results become so sadly dissipated ? 

To such, inquiries let no one attempt a reply without 
much deliberation. I will only suggest, 

1. High-Schools have not been allowed in this mission. 
These high-schools in India are specially successful in gather- 
ing intelligent and promising young Hindus under Christ- 
ian teaching and influence. 

2. The primary and boarding-schools, to which most of 
the converts are traceable, have been more and more re- 
stricted for several years past, and the interesting boarding- 
school of Mrs. Hume, so largely blessed of God, was inter- 
dicted by the .Deputation. Of the two converts admitted to 
the Church in Bombay, during the six years since the Depu- 
tation disbanded the schools, one was for years a pupil in 
our seminary at Ahmednuggur, and there gained a good 
knowledge of Christian truth from daily stated instruction. 

Results of Schools in the Scotch. Free Church Mission in Bombay. 

Let those who would test the propriety of these two sug- 
gestions, contrast the history, agencies, and results of the 
mission of the American Board in Bombay, with the histo- 
ry, agencies, and results of the Scotch. Free Church mission 
in Bombay, which was commenced some fifteen or twenty 
years later than ours. In the Scotch Free Church mission 
there have been in operation, not only the primary schools 
in large numbers, but a high-school, with its college depart- 
ment, has constantly brought under Christian instruction 
from 100 to 300 of the most intelligent and promising native 
youth. Their latest report (1859) gives 1075 pupils in 
their schools, 279 of whom are in their collegiate institution. 
God has blessed these schools, and they have now a living 



136 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

and aggressive church, of some 80 or 100 members, many 
of whom are young men of good education, high attain- 
ments, and earnest piety, fitted to be pastors, preachers, and 
helpers in prosecuting this work of God. 

This contrast between the two missions is all the more 
striking from the fact that both are in the same heathen 
city, and the American mission was commenced fully six 
teen years before the other. 

Appeal from the Action of the Deputation. 

One of the missionaries, feeling deeply grieved by the 
loss of his schools, sent to the Prudential Committee of the 
Board an earnest appeal from the action of the Deputation 
while they were in India. Some extracts from that appeal 
may properly find a place here. After speaking of the pain 
it gave him to oppose his " convictions to those of the wise 
and good whom we respect and love," he assures the Com- 
mittee that he should excuse himself from this unpleasant 
duty " but for the painful apprehension that the corporate 
members of the Board, and the Christian public in America, 
will not understand the true state of the case, but will infer 
that the missionaries are responsible for these changes, or at 
all events, fully acquiesced in them. This apprehension 
arises mainly from the fact, that our worthy Deputation so 
frequently and studiously represent, that all action in the 
general meeting was by the missionaries alone, they (the De- 
putation) never voting." [See p. 124.] The appeal con- 
tinues : 

" Now, to give up our dearest and fondly-cherished views 
and plans of labor, and yield to the wishes of the Deputation 
the sternest convictions of our judgments derived from and 
fortified by long years of missionary toil ; this of itself is suffi- 
ciently painful. But after having done so with the best grace 
possible T it would seem, in common justice, that the responsi- 
bility of the neiv measures should no longer rest with us ; that 
the Deputation, whose views have been conceded, because 
coming with authority, should cheerfully bear the entire respon- 
sibility of these changes. 

" Xow, I shall greatly rejoice if I find my apprehensions on 



APPEAL FROM THE DEPUTATION. 187 

this point unfounded, if the result shows that the Board and 
Christian public in America do understand that these changes 
were conceded to the wishes and authority of the Deputation, 
against the experience and convictions of a majority of the 
missionaries. I have no wish to speak for any of my brethren. 
If any one of them acquiesced, from convictions of judgment, 
in all, or the larger part of the changes made in our Mahratta 
missions, at the instance of the Deputation, I shall be glad to 
know it. 

u Perhaps it is sufficient for me to express my honest belief, 
that in most cases of change, every brother yielded his own 
convictions to the wishes or authority of the Deputation, and 
I think there is evidence which should convince you and the 
Christian public that this belief is correct. 

"1. The previous convictions of the missionaries. These 
have been repeatedly, and fully, and persistently stated in cor- 
respondence with you. The secretaries will bear us witness 
that the convictions of a majority of us have ever been strong- 
ly urged in favor of schools as our most efficient agency in pro- 
secuting our work. Representations of our stern convictions 
on this subject were sent to them, bearing the signature of 
every missionary then in the field, and only a short time pre- 
vious to the visit of the Deputation. Is not this evidence that, 
in assenting to the changes made, the missionaries yielded their 
own convictions to the wishes and authority of the Depu- 
tation ? 

" 2. The necessity of a Deputation to secure these changes. 
Why was a Deputation sent to us with such authority ? Do 
not regard me as opposed to Deputations. ISTo ; send us all 
you can. The more the better. But let them be clothed with 
authority only to do us good not harm, to help not hinder the 
work ; and let it not be thought invidious if I add, If they 
must come at the expense of the Board, and its funds are 
limited, let us have missionaries rather than Deputations. 
Send us your secretaries and bishops, your best and your big- 
gest men ; but let them stop here and labor with us, shoulder 
to shoulder, in this work, and after a dozen or twenty years, 
if they retain the views of our present Deputation, why, we'll 
tell them they are richly entitled to them, and to labor on in 
accordance with them all the rest of their days. We won't try 
to controvert them, and if any inexperienced Deputations come 



138 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

out from Boston, and require them to surrender these views, 
we'll hold up both hands, and solemnly protest against such 
violence. 

" But why did you clothe this Deputation with such full 
power and authority ? Was it not to effect changes which 
you had found you could not otherwise effect? Was it not 
because our convictions from experience were too strong to be 
changed by correspondence ? Your Secretary had already ex- 
hausted every argument. What remained but the direct au- 
thority of a Deputation ? Will it be said that from the inter- 
views and verbal arguments of the Deputation our convictions 
were suddenly changed ? If this were a fact, what reliance 
could you or the Christian public place upon us ? If our 
strongest convictions, arising from the experience of ten, fif- 
teen, or twenty years of personal labor among the heathen, 
and from the experience of all who have labored before us, can 
be wholly changed in so short a time, then what security can 
you have that they will not change again as quicldy f 

"3. The discussions incident to those changes. There might 
have been discussion ending in mutual agreement. But this 
was not the case. Convictions unchanged were yielded to the 
Deputation. In case of the Report on the English Institution 
at Bombay, [p. 129,] why did the chairman resign, and an- 
other brother take his place, and embody the views of Dr. 
Anderson ? 

" On the question of schools with heathen teachers, [p. 131,] 
why does the report condemn them entirely, when seven out 
of nine (our whole number) voted for them ? But on these 
points we must appeal to the Deputation to bear witness for 
us ; and I fully believe they will testify that some of us plead 
for these schools, and opposed their suppression to the full ex- 
tent of our ability, and finally yielded only to the authority of 
the Deputation, against our exj)erience and the strongest con- 
victions of our judgments. 

" 4. The actual votes of the missionaries on some questions. 
The result of our votes does not appear in the printed minutes, 
but my interest in some questions led me to take notes, with 
the names and votes of brethren. On the question of heathen 
teachers our votes stood two negative, and seven affirmative. 
Now, to this large majority here on the ground, in favor of 
such teachers in new missions when others can not be had, 



APPEAL FROM THE DEPUTATION. 139 

add the votes of our five brethren who were absent, namely, 
Messrs. Allen, Abbott, Hume, French, and Burgees, all known 
to have very strong convictions in favor of such schools, and 
can stronger evidence be necessary that the responsibility of 
suppressing these schools must rest entirely with the Depu- 
tation ? 

" 5. The authority used by the Deputation. I need only 
mention this, as I doubt not our Deputation will cheerfully tes- 
tify to the fact that they used the full authority intrusted to 
them. When they affirmed that the Committee would no 
longer employ heathen teachers, that the experiment had been 
tried and proved a failure, they will remember that we urged 
with all earnestness that it had not proved a failure, that these 
schools had proved a most efficient agency in the Ahmednug- 
gur mission, and though they could now be dispensed with 
there, yet the necessity for them in the new missions was still 
imperative. "When they urged that we could not point to a 
single conversion in these schools, they will remember our re- 
ply, that we could point to many who had first become ac- 
quainted with Christian truth in those schools, and when trans- 
ferred to the seminary, or boarding-schools, had been convert- 
ed and gathered into the Church. They will remember that 
we pointed to our ordained native preachers and most valuable 
helpers as the direct fruits of these schools, they having, in 
almost every instance, been brought to a knowledge of the 
truth while employed as heathen teachers. They will remem- 
ber our unanimous statement, that with one single exception, 
every convert in our mission, formerly of good caste, was con- 
verted in connection with our schools ; and they will remember 
the frequently-expressed opinion, that our schools had more 
influence in bringing in the Mahar (low caste) converts, than 
any and all other agencies combined. When we pressed our 
arguments and convictions, as they may have thought, too 
earnestly, they will remember their repeated affirmation, that 
' no strength of argument, no force of reasoning loill ever 
change the views of the Board on that subject.'' When our 
arguments still pressed hard, they will remember the alterna- 
tive they frequently presented, namely : ' If it be so, then the 
Board will give up their Mahratta missions, and send their men 
and funds to China or some other field,' 



140 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

" But I need not enlarge. Our worthy Deputation will not 
decline bearing the full responsibility of these changes. They 
can not forget the persistent earnestness with which we oppos- 
ed them. Surely they will not wish the Board or the Christ- 
ian public to think we made them, or acquiesced in them, in 
any other sense than as yielding our convictions to their wishes 
and authority. For yielding in this way with so good a grace 
as we did, they will doubtless give us all due credit. 

"I might mention some other considerations — some action 
iu regard to which we were not at all consulted, as the appointing 
of a printing committee. I might mention some very import- 
ant action that was effected while in private session, with only 
Jive of our number, the remaining four of us being excluded — 
such as the division of the Ahmednuggur church, and the or- 
dination of the native pastors over churches in the city instead 
of in the Northern field, etc. They excluded, four of us be- 
cause we did not belong to that particular mission. But why 
was it not as proper for us to express our opinions, and give 
our votes on the changes effected in that mission, as for the 
Ahmednuggur brethren to give their opinions and votes on 
the changes about to be enforced in our missions ? And. in 
this connection it should, be put on record, that of our whole 
number, nine, the only two brethren who voted against hea- 
then teachers in all circumstances, were then members of the 
Ahmednuggur mission. I might mention the fact that the 
Deputation did not visit Kolapoor ; that they spent only a few 
hours at Satara, and did not inform themselves as to the pecu- 
liar difficulties under which we labor in these new fields ; that 
as to all their action affecting these new missio?is, they might 
as well have sent it from Boston by letter, and. saved the 
fatigue and expense of their long journey. I might go on 
with such specifications, but it is not necessary. We wish to 
yield respectfully to all due authority, and neither the Board 
nor the Deputation will hold, us responsible for results, when 
we thus yield against our own convictions. 

" Still, the more I reflect on the subject, the more I fear 
there is danger that you and the Board, in the absence of any 
explanation, may receive the printed reports of our general 
meeting, as expressing the sentiments of at least a majority 
of us. And yet I do not suppose that one of us is willing to 
subscribe to all the principles and details of those reports — no, 



APPEAL FHOM THE DEPUTATION. 141 

not even the respective individuals who drew them up as 
chairmen of the committees. 

" Though every report contains much that has my unquali- 
fied approval, yet there is something in every one, to which I 
could not consent, only as coming with the authority of the 
Deputation. 

"The first report (on preaching) embodies much that ac- 
cords with the experience and conviction of every missionary. 
But, not to mention some less important items, the single sen- 
tence at the bottom of the 29th page, beginning, 'In doing 
this it will not probably be found necessary to make use of 
schools in order to collect a congregation,' prevents the possi- 
bility of my assent to it. My whole experience and my strong- 
est convictions are directly opposed to this statement. I have 
never yet seen a permanent or stated congregation [of hea- 
then] obtained in this country without schools, except in the 
case of workmen, as in a printing-press, or paupers or invalids. 
Nor have I ever heard of such a congregation, and a challenge 
in presence of the Deputation, to adduce such a case, failed of 
being met. So the probability is all on the other side. What 
accords with all past and present experience, is probable — 
what is entirely opposed to all experience is not probable. 

" The report on the printing establishment will perhaps 
illustrate most of the others. I was appointed with brother 
Fairbank, a committee to report in favor of having it reduced 
and a part of the presses sold. I knew brother F. was op- 
posed to the measure, for he had told me so. He had 
had much debate with the Deputation, and found Dr. A. 
fully determined to reduce the press. We had no further con- 
sultation on the subject. Br. Fairbank prepared the report 
to suit Dr. A., and the thing was done. He allowed his own 
hand to perform the act, and then bore the pain as well as he 
could. How keenly he felt it, may be inferred from the follow- 
ing quotations from one of his letters, while reducing the press : 
'It is trying to give the office workmen their discharge. 
I discharged 25 last week. It cuts me to the heart, 1 etc. He 
felt, to use his own language, that ' the Deputation have come 
to do it, and it must be done.' 

" In the third report (controlling object in missions) there 
is much that meets the cordial approval of every missionary. 
But the idea advanced, that the last commission of our Lord 



142 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

stands in the way of our establishing schools among the hea- 
then, to teach them the Gospel, is simply absurd, and a great 
mistake. The great commission is just as much against the 
use of the art of printing, as the use of schools. So, too, the 
attempt to bring odium upon schools, by calling them ' spec- 
ulations and experiments.' What has stood the test of fifty 
years, and proved successful, is no longer an experiment. 
When a new mission is organized, and prosecuted among the 
heathen without schools, then shall we have an experiment, and 
shall watch the result with interest. Would it not have been 
well for the Deputation to commission Messrs. Munger and 
Hazen, the only brethren who voted against these schools with 
heathen teachers, to commence some new mission without 
schools, and try this experiment a few years, before attempt- 
ing to force us to adopt the plan against our convictions f 

" The fourth report (on common schools) has many state- 
ments that are objectionable. It says : ' We can not point to a 
single case of conversion among all this number.' This doubt- 
less means, while in those primary schools. Now a closer 
examination reveals many such conversions, and many more 
have been converted after being transferred to the higher 
schools. The seed sown in those primary schools has taken 
root, and afterwards sprung up to eternal life. And then, 
what agency has proved so mighty as these same schools in 
breaking up their vile superstitions, and training the present 
thousands of Hindu youth who discard all confidence in Hin- 
duism ? 

" This report says : c A few instances of conversion have 
occurred among the superintendents and teachers of these 
schools,' etc. A few instances ! Such as Hurripunt, Ram- 
krishnapunt, Narayan, Marooti, Dajeeba, Itanichunder, Da- 
jeeba of Seroor. — Every convert, originally of good caste, in 
all our missions, with one single exception, was brought in 
through these schools or the seminary. Even this one excep- 
tion was a teacher in a native girls' school, and hence sprung 
up his acquaintance and connection with the mission. 

"The report says, 'The result seems to show that these 
schools have failed, etc' Not at all. The result shows the 
very reverse, namely, that these schools have been our only 
means for gaining a stated hearing for the Gospel among the 



APPEAL FROM THE DEPUTATION. 143 

better class of Hindus — the only means, with God's blessing, 
of securing converts among them The result abundantly 
shows that our schools have been more effective than any and 
all other agencies, in making known Christ and winning souls 
to him. 

a I might go on with specifications of this kind through all 
the reports, but it would require too much time and labor, 
and is not necessary to my object. I only wish to impress 
your minds with the fact that we did not assent from convic- 
tion, to the principles and statements of these reports ; that 
they were drawn up with express reference to the views and 
wishes of the Deputation, and embody the views of the indivi- 
dual writers and their brethen only so far as they found their 
views accorded with, those of the Deputation. 

" Hence I was surprised and grieved to observe that the 
responsibility of the views expressed in these reports was so 
wholly thrown upon us in the general letter of the Deputa- 
tion. How is this ? thought I. In yielding to our Deputation, 
against our own convictions, have we really incurred the re- 
sponsibility of these changes which we so much deprecate ? 
It is not possible. The Deputation comes ' clothed with au- 
thority.' They tell us there must be certain changes. Our 
English schools must be broken up, and our vernacular schools 
taught by heathen teachers must be disbanded. They find us 
strong in the convictions w r e have always sent them by letter. 
But after long and earnest discussions — after doing our best 
to change or modify views and theories imported from Boston, 
w r e respectfully yield to authority. Can we be regarded as 
responsible for these changes ? Pray do not regard me so, for 
most of them are directly opposed to all my missionary expe- 
rience and the sternest convictions of my judgment. 

" The changes in the printing-press reduce it, from being a 
most efficient and valuable agency, to one which, in my hum- 
ble opinion, had better be given up entirely.* In its proper 
working state, it was able promptly to execute all our mission 
printing, and by filling up the intervals with other w r ork, it 
not only met all its own expenses, but also the expense of the 
whole Bombay mission. Now our printing is done with great 

* The correctness of this opinion has been verified. The press has since 
been entirely given up. 



144 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

delay, and the press, if not already a tax upon the funds of the 
Board, must very soon become so. Our 'printing committee,' 
with all deference to our Deputation, is not what we want. 
It only clogs machinery which was before working well. Pre- 
vious to the appointment of this committee, all works for 
printing needed only the approval of a majority of the mission- 
aries, and it could be executed at once. Now a ms. must have 
the approval of this committee of three, representing only ttco 
missions out of four, and disturbing the previous equitable 
balance of influence and power. 

" The allowance for building a mission-house is fixed at 2500 
rupees. A temporary house, built of mud and covered with 
grass, may be built for this sum, and even less. But is it true 
economy to build such houses at permanent central stations ? 
Is there one business man in a hundred that will think so ? A 
brother, [Rev. S. B. Hunger,] whose house cost some 5000 ru- 
pees, and who now foresees the possibility of its being sold, 
and he being obliged to build again, said to me the other day : 
4 2500 rupees is not enough. I shall never attempt to build a 
house with that allowance. I'll go back to America first ! ' 
Now this brother made no opposition to our report on build- 
ing in our meeting. He felt no personal interest in the subject 
at that time ; and be and the other brethren who were living in 
houses which cost from fine to ten thousand rupees each, may 
have thought it desirable to yield to the views of the Deputa- 
tion on this subject. But let them have to build anew, and 
we shall better know their feelings. If any brother now in 
these missions will build a house at a permanent central sta- 
tion, for 2500 rupees, I'll gladly acknowledge myself mistaken. 

"My poor schools in Kolapoor — their loss will deprive me 
of my most precious opportunities for preaching Christ in that 
great idolatrous city. Many will be the weary days when I 
shall wait with heavy heart and all in vain, for any to listen to 
my message. Hitherto I have had audiences which have glad- 
dened our hearts and awakened fond hopes. From one to 
two hundred youth have constituted a nucleus around which 
have been accustomed to gather their parents and friends, 
often filling our entire chapel. These youth are instructed in 
the truths of the Gospel every day, from the moment they 
are able to read. The Sabbath-school exercise of catechising 
these youth has been more attractive, and done more, I verily 



APPEAL FROM THE DEPUTATION. 145 

believe, to communicate Christian truth to our adult hearers, 
than my more formal preaching. Besides, it is my only means 
of attracting those adult hearers. Many of them are interest- 
ed in their children, and will come to hear their prompt replies 
to my questions. Others are attracted by the gathering, and 
come in also. And once in the chapel, most of them remain, 
not only through the Sabbath-school exercise, but through the 
whole preaching service. I thus secure an attentive hearing 
for my message from such an audience as I could obtain in no 
other way. 

"And then the result of all this Christian truth on the 
minds of those youth. It is committed to memory and im- 
pressed upon their minds by frequent reviews and repetitions, 
till it becomes as familiar as the letters of their alphabet. Is 
it to lose its effect because it has been learned in school? 
Who can believe it ? No, if I must be deprived of this most 
efficient means of preaching Christ, I shall not cease to thank 
God that I enjoyed it so long, that these blessed and saving 
truths have been so deeply impressed on so many of those 
youthful minds and hearts. 

" Some entertain the idea that any labor in schools detracts 
so much from direct oral preaching. Oh ! what a mistake ! I 
yield to no man in my estimate of the importance of oral 
preaching. I yield to no man in the amount of time and 
strength to be devoted to it. Let me not be thought to boast 
of any toil or sacrifice in the cause of Christ. But my breth- 
ren will bear me witness that I fall behind no one in the 
amount of time and strength devoted to oral preaching of the 
Gospel. They know that I shrink from no toil or exposure to 
come in contact with the people. They know that I used to 
traverse that ' Northern field ' of the Ahmednuggur mission 
in the hot season and rains, as no other missionary ever did. 
They know I have prosecuted this work in Kolapoor amidst 
the ravages of cholera, passing daily among the dead and 
dying for successive weeks, till my only attendant was struck 
down by the disease, and died under my care, and a severe 
attack prostrated myself, and a malignant dysentery followed 
for months, working ravages in my system, from which I am 
still suffering. 

" To preach Christ to these perishing heathen is the only 
work for which we have come to this land. ' Yea, woe is me 
7 



146 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

if I preach not the Gospel' But it is in order to preach that 
I want my schools, It is that I may make known that pre- 
cious Name which is above every name, that I plead in their 
behalf. Gentlemen of the Prudential Committee, it is to you 
I make this last appeal. Is there no reprieve for these schools f 

" And let me remind you, they ask not your funds. They 
have never cost your Board a farthing. Benevolent Euro- 
peans who see and know their value, have sent in money for 
their support sufficient to leave a balance each year in your 
treasury. They ask only the bare favor of life. May they 
not live to bless these perishiug idolaters of ' Kolapoor f . . . 

" My health is precarious. Should what I have here said in 
regard to the great subjects of mission policy, and the changes 
I deprecate, prove to be my last testimony, you will kindly re- 
ceive it as originating in the deep convictions of my judgment 
and my heart. Do not regard me as in any wise hostile in my 
feelings towards the Deputation. They are good men, and I 
expect soon to meet them in heaven, and to rejoice with them 
over all the good the Lord has effected through such unworthy 
instrumentalities in this dark land. But both we and they are 
erring men ; and they have not had the facilities for judging 
of the tendencies and results of the different missionary agen- 
cies here in India, that some missionaries in the field have en- 
joyed. 

" I have spoken freely of the changes I deprecate — if too 
freely, you will excuse it. I can not think it is your wish to 
prevent the utterance of our honest convictions. ' Give me the 
liberty to know, to titter, and to argue freely, according to con- 
science, above cdl liberties? You will see that I am conscien- 
tiously opposed to nearly all the changes which the Deputation 
effected. But in practice I respectfully yield to authority. 
Though deprived of half our strength and means of usefulness, 
what remains but to toil on, and do what we can ? ' We are 
perplexed, but not in despair — cast down, but not destroyed.' 
If we maybe ' enlarged through your liberality,' we will thank 
God on your behalf. But if we must remain * straitened on 
every side,' the Lord will help us, and strengthen our fainting 
hearts. In the bonds of the Gospel, and the service of our 
common Lord and Master, believe me, very respectfully and 
sincerely yours, R. G. W." 



UNHAPPY KESULTS OF THE CHANGE. H7 

This appeal speaks plainly to the Committee of the un- 
happy changes enforced by the Deputation, but avows un- 
qualified submission to authority. If honest convictions 
thus held in abeyance incur the displeasure of the officers 
of our Missionary Boards, and lead to the impeachment and 
excision of earnest and laborious missionaries, is it not an 
omen of evil which may well elicit the prayers and anxious 
consideration of all who love the cause of missions ? 

Unhappy Results of the Change. 

It is not my purpose to gather up here all these results. 
The breaking up of the English high-school, boarding-school, 
and common schools, in Bombay ; the crippling of the Bom- 
bay printing-press so that it has since been found necessary 
to give it up entirely ; the suppression of the schools with 
some 500 pupils in Kolapoor ; the suppression of the schools 
in Satara, and some in Ahmednuggur ; the abandonment 
of the printing-press, the Batticotta seminary, and other 
schools in Ceylon— these changes, and some like them in 
Madura and Madras— do they not present sad returns for 
the heavy expenditure of time and money involved in send- 
ing the Deputation to India ? But these reveal only a part 
of the disaster attending this change of policy. Among 
other unhappy results, there are a few which ought to be 
placed on record for the benefit of those who are to come 
after us. And these which I mention are limited to my own 
knowledge, and to our Mahratta missions in Western India. 
There may be others like them in Ceylon and the other mis- 
sions, but of those I do not speak. Of the unhappy effects 
in Western India, which are not generally known to the 
Christian public, I mention : 

1. The loss to the Board of able and devoted missionaries. 

That I may give no wrong impression on this point, I 
will mention brief details, sufficient to put the candid reader 
in possession of facts. My brethren will kindly excuse me 
for using their initials, which will identify them only where 
their views and positions are already known. 



148 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

(1.) Brother B joined the missions in 1839, and left 

India in broken health early in 1854. His estimate of the 
schools may be inferred from the fact, that when Dr. Ander- 
son and the Committee abolished the Ahmednuggur semi- 
nary, boarding-schools, and schools with heathen teachers — 

all by one order, they detached Brother B from that 

mission at once, and sent him to commence a new mission at 
Satara. In the letter of May 10th, 1851, which brought 
that order to India, the Secretary writes : 

" We infer from some of Mr. B 's letters, that the con- 
siderable changes now to be made in the educational system 
of the Ahmednuggur mission, will not accord with his present 
views. . . . He will find it more pleasant to work without 
boarding-schools in a new mission at Satara, than to continue 
to labor where this class of schools has been relinquished after 
long use." 

Brother B was allowed to have primary schools with 

heathen teachers at Satara, and continued to labor there till 
he came to America, just before the Deputation went to 
India. As to his views of the action of the Deputation, and 
his principal reason for not returning to India, the following 
extracts from his letters are quite conclusive : 

" I will not attempt to characterize the policy which would 
not permit you to keep your schools at Kolapoor." " The 
policy now inaugurated is a powerful reason for my ?iot 
returning to India. Could they have admitted such a liberal 
policy as to permit your schools at Kolapoor, and ours at 
Satara, to go on, even this would have made the case different. 
But no, all must be cut down to one measure. This is enough. 
I have had enough of such legislation, and shall not again be 
entangled in that yoke of bondage." April 29, 1856. 

Brother B resigned his connection with the Board, 

and has continued to labor in pastoral duties to the present 
time. With his excellent knowledge of the Mahratta lan- 
guage, his long experience and many facilities for mission- 



UNHAPPY KESULTS OF THE CHANGE. 149 

ary labor, he is lost to the Board and to the work of missions 
in India. 

(2.) Brother A labored in India some twenty -six 

years, and proved himself a most efficient and valuable mis- 
sionary. He came to America just as the Deputation went 
to India. His views were decidedly opposed to their doings. 
Some will remember his testimony on this point, at the 
special meeting of the Board at Albany in 1856. He, too, 
resigned, and has been engaged in pastoral duties, or writing 
for the press, ever since. I suppose he would gladly have 
returned to his mission duties in India, but for the unwise 
policy which he saw and felt would impede his labors and 
usefulness there. 

In March, 1859, he wrote to a brother whose mission had 
just been abandoned by the Prudential Committee, much to 
his grief, as follows : 

" The question of your return to India will soon come before 
you for consideration, and a trying question it will be. The 
deep interest you feel in that country, your strong attachment 
to the missionary cause, and your desire to live and labor and 
die in it ; your experience in this good work, your thorough 
knowledge and ready use of the native language, the extensive 
acquaintance you have there formed, and the influence and 
good-will you have acquired among the European and native 
population ; all these are reasons — strong reasons — for you to 
return to India, for you might hope to accomplish as much in 
two or three years as any new missionary could accomplish in 
five or six years. . . 

" There is one circumstance in your missionary life, which I 
know not how far may affect your return to India. When the 
Deputation of the A.B.C.F.M. visited their missions in India 
some three or four years ago, you differed from them in opin- 
ion in respect to some changes which they wished to make, 
and you felt it your duty to express your opinions freely to 
them, and also to communicate your views to the Committee 
appointed at the special meeting of the Board in Albany. 

"Now an honest and conscientious difference of opinion— 
the result of long observation and experience, and expressed 
with Christian courtesy, certainly ought not to be to your 



150 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

prejudice. Had I been in India when the Deputation was 
there, I should have had the same vieics of those changes which 
you had, I should have been as much opposed to their measures 
as you were, and I doubt not I should have expressed my views 
as freely to them, and to the Committee in this country, as you 
did. And we should have had the satisfaction of knowing that 
the chaplains, the missionaries, the missionary committees, the 
presbyteries, etc., in India, generally agreed with us in their 
opinions and missionary operations." 

(3.) Brother H was a most laborious and devoted 

missionary. He labored in India with great zeal and fidel- 
ity some sixteen years. His health suddenly failed, and 
being sent away from Bombay by his brethren a few weeks 
before the Deputation arrived, he died at sea on his voj^age 
to America. All who knew him will remember the strength 
of his feelings and convictions on the great subject at issue, 
and his intense anxiety lest the Deputation should persist 
in their unwise policy. This anxiety taxed his feelings un- 
ceasingly, and led him to exert himself beyond his strength 
in writing to the brethren and to Dr. Anderson, deprecating 
with all his soul the changes he was coming to enforce. 
This anxiety led him to labor too hard, and hold on to his 
work too long, that he might be at his post when the Depu 
taticm should arrive. From the severe prostration which 
followed he never rallied. 

(4.) Brother Gr B is a man of tender conscience 

and a loving heart. He deprecated alike the changes ef- 
fected by the Deputation and the manner in which they 
were compassed. The following quotations from this 
brother are sufficiently conclusive : 

" Had rather a warm controversy with the Deputation the 
very last hour of their stay." 

" Dr. Duff says he knows our Deputation went quite be- 
yond the limits of their authority." " I was more dissatis- 
fied with those dear brethren [the Deputation] the last hour 
or two spent with them," etc. 

This brother foresaw the friction and trouble which threat- 
ened all who did not repudiate their own views and adopt 



UNHAPPY RESULTS OF THE CHANGE. 151 

those of Dr. Anderson, and quietly handed in his resigna- 
tion. It was accepted, and his connection with the Ameri- 
can Board was thus dissolved. Alluding to this act of 
resignation some time after, in a letter to a brother mission- 
ary, he wrote : 

a I have done all that I needed to do for myself." " I 
cheerfully wash my hands of the whole business." 

I might mention other similar instances. Some will 
recall the facts associated with the names of Rev. Messrs. 
I. K H , C. T. M , and others. 

But I forbear. The personal vindication of any one is 
not the object of this volume. Let us rather keep an eye 
closely to the interests of the Board and the dear cause of 
missions. But with these interests in view, and the fact of 
these noble men — able and devoted missionaries as they 
were — thus lost to the Board, may we not solemnly ask, 
Can we afford it ? can the Board afford it ? can the Church 
afford it ? With the harvest so great, and her laborers so 
few, can she afford to see them sacrificed in this way ? 
With millions of heathen perishing for want of the Gospel, 
and the cry for help coming over the seas from every dark 
corner of the pagan world, can she afford to lose her most 
faithful laborers — men rich in the treasured resources of 
long experience, possessing a knowledge of the language 
and of the people, and rare facilities for effective labor — can 
she afford to lose such men for such a reason ? 

2. Another result of the Deputation was the unhappy 
alienation of brethren. 

United as we all were in those earnest pleadings for our 
schools, and " embarrassed" as they felt themselves by our 
united front, they could succeed in their undertaking only 
by acting on the old Roman principle, " divide and con- 
quer." This they did act upon, and we have seen with 
what success. 

The position of those of us who maintained our previous 
convictions not only incurred the displeasure of the Deputa- 
tion, but reflected on those brethren who changed, and in- 
curred their displeasure also, Here is a most unhappy 



152 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

result of the Deputation. " Behold how good and how 
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" 
That a large measure of this blessed unity existed among 
us, previous to the coming of the Deputation, requires no 
confirmation. 

Those two series of letters from every one of us, pleading 
for our schools, evinces a complete unanimity of sentiment— 
a remarkable unity of feeling and views, even among mis- 
sionaries ; and the hundreds of letters in my possession from 
all in our mission band, develop facts in Christian inter- 
course and communion, show a strength of attachment and 
sj^mpathy, and breathe a spirit of Christian love, very rare 
in the brotherhood of saints on earth. 

But this precious " fraternity of feeling," (p. 103,) pre- 
viously existing, was suddenly broken ; and the conse- 
quent results are sufficiently evident, both in India and 
America. Oh ! when will Christian men learn to sink their 
personal differences, agree to disagree, and ceasing to forbid 
those who cast out devils in the name of Jesus, (Mark 9 : 
88-40,) join hand and heart in any and all means and 
measures by which souls can be won to Christ ? 



The following Tabular View of the schools of this mission 
has been prepared with all possible accuracy from the reports 
and periodicals of the Board and the letters of the mission- 
aries. It presents the number of schools and pupils each 
year, from the origin of the mission to 1856, so far as reliable 
data can be found. When the precise number is not stated 
in the reports and letters, the best possible estimate is given, 
and the fact that it is an estimate is indicated by a *. 



TABULAR VIEW OF THE SCHOOLS. 



153 



Tabular View of the Schools of the Bombay American Mission. 



Boys' Schools with 

Heathen Teachers 

Year. Schools. Pupils. 



Girls' Schools with 
Heathen Teachers. 
Schools. Pupils. 



Girl's Boarding 

Schools. 
Schools. Pupils. 



English 

Schools. 



Total 

Number W 

Pupils. 



4 

6 

14 

19 

20 

15 

18 

26 

39 

39* 

24 

16 

19 

31 

17 

21 

18 

16 

16 

17 

17 

10* 
8* 
5* 
8* 
6* 
6* 



300 

400 

900 

1000* 

1050 

750* 

900* 

1454 

2000* 

2000* 

1499 

1126 

1100 

1200 

1000 

1485 

1322 

1500 

1295 



550* 

450* 

300* 

317 

300 

300* 

300* 

300 

298 

250 

250 

300 

300 

300 

400 

355 

350 



SNo reliable 
statistics. 



1 

1 

9 
10 
10 
10 
18 
12 
12 
12 
12 
14 
12 

6* 

4* 

3* 

4* 

4* 

4* 

3* 

4 

4 

4 

4 

4* 

4 

4 

4 

4 

4 



not given. 

25* 

466 

577 

400 

400 

500 

442 

383 

500 

300 

330 

330 

200 

150 

84 

100 

100 

100 

75* 

95 

50 

60 

60 

40 

80 

80 

75 

75 

75 



in families 20 
40* 
no returns. 

50* 



10 

50 
50 
40 
40 
44 
42 
42 
45 
45 
40 
45 
48 
48 
50 
54 
54 
54 
54 
54 



300 

400 

900 

1000* 

1050 

720 

940 

1454 

2000* 

2075* 

1965 

1703 

1500 

1600 

1500 

1927 

1705 

2000 

1630 

1323 

1240 

790 

640 

428 

459 

442 

445 

420 

435 

393 

358 

358 

390 

434 

434 

529 

484 

479 

275 



In examining the above Table the reader will bear in mind 
that no record of native Christian teachers appears in the 
whole history of the Bombay mission, except one for a short 
time in the girls' boarding-school in 1843, and two more 
subsequent to 1850. Two native Christian teachers and one 



15-1 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Indo-Briton were also employed in 1854, in the English in- 
stitution which was suppressed by the Deputation. 

The above Table shows, therefore, that an average of 
twenty heathen teachers were employed in the Bombay mis- 
sion schools for thirty-eight successive years, with the warm, 
unhesitating approval of the executive officers of the Board. 

Summary of Results. 

If the following statistics differ in any respect from the 
manuscript records of the church, the difference must be at- 
tributed to defects in the published reports and documents, 
not to any want of scrupulous care and patient labor in ex- 
amining and collating them. 

Whole number admitted to church fellowship from the origin of 

the mission to 1857, 57 

Europeans, Americans, and other foreigners converted mostly in 

connection with labors and preaching in English, 8 

Employed as teachers and thus brought under Christian instruction 

and converted, 8 

Pupils or teachers, ditto ditto, 18 

Parents and friends of pupils and teachers, and thus brought under 

instruction by means of schools, 10 

Poor persons, subsisting on alms, 9 

Servants, and thus coming under daily instruction, 3 

First awakened by tracts and received after months of daily in- 
struction, , 1 

Converted by preaching in streets, markets, and on tours, — 57 

Of the above conversions, those traceable directly to schools, .... 26 

Conversions traceable indirectly to the schools, 10 

Other pupils giving evidence of piety, but dying before baptism, . . 7 

In view of the facts here presented, the reader is request- 
ed to form his own estimate of the value of these schools. 
What could have been hoped for the Bombay mission with- 
out them ? And while we grieve that no more have been 
gathered into the fold of Christ in this mission, let us also 
thank God that he has condescended to own and bless these 
agencies so largely as he has. 



TABULAE VIEW OF THE MISSIONARIES. 



155 



Tabular View of the Missionaries and Assistant Missionaries in the 
Bombay Mission, from its origin to the close of 1856. 



Joined the Mission. 



Rev. Gordon Hall, 
Rev. Samuel Nott, 
Rev. Samuel Newell, 
Rev. Horatio Bardwell, 
Rev. John Nichols, 
Rev. Allen Graves,* 
Rev. Edward Frost, 
Rev. D. 0. Allen, D.D.,t 
Rev. Cyrus Stone, 
Rev. William Hervey, 
Rev. Wm. Ramsey, 
Rev. Hollis Read, 
Rev. S. B. Munger, 
Rev. Henry Ballantine, 
Rev. R. W. Hume, 
Rev. Geo. Bowen, 
Rev. William Wood, 
Rev. S. B. Fairbank, 
Rev. A. Hazen, 

19. 



March 7, 1814. 
Nov. 1, 1816. 
Feb. 23, 1818. 

June 28, 1824. 
Nov. 27, 1827. 
Dec. 2S, 1827. 
March 7, 1831. 



Sept. 10, 1834. 
Oct. 10, 1835. 
Aug. 10, 1S39. 
Jan. 19, 1848. 

Jan. 1850. 
Jan. 1855. 



Died, March 10, 1826. 
Returned to Amer., Oct. 7, 1815. 
Died, May 30, 1821. 
Returned, Jan. 22, 1821. 
Died, Dec. 9, 1824. 
Died, Dec. 30, 1843. 
Died, Oct. 18, 1825. 
Returned to Amer., Feb. 1853. 
Withdrew, June 20, 1838. 
Went to N., Dec. 20, 1831. 
Returned to Amer., July 5, 1834. 
Went to Nuggur, Dec. 20, 1831. 
Went to Jalna, Feb. 1837. 
Went to Nuggur, Oct. 20, 1836. 
D. at Sea, left B., Sept. 20, 1854. 
Withdrew, Jan. 1855. 
Went to Satara, June 1, 1849. 
Left for Amer., March 1855. 
" Jan. 1857. 





Length of 




Service. 


STrs. 


Mths 


Dys. 


13 


1 





2 


7 


26 


7 


2 


23 


4 


2 


21 


6 


9 


16 


21 


3 


16 


1 


3 


20 


22 








10 


5 


23 





9 


13 


3 


8 


28 





9 


18 


2 


5 





1 





9 


15 


1 


10 


7 








1 


4 


12 


5 


2 





2 









James Garrett, 
W. C. Sampson, 
Geo. W. Hubbard, 
Elijah A. Webster, 

4. 



Assistant Missionaries. 

May 9, 1821. Died, July 16, 1831. 

Nov. 22, 1833. Died at Aleppo, Dec. 22, 1885. 

Sept, 10, 1S34. Recalled, June 20, 1887. 
Oct, 11, 1835. " 1841. 



Female Assistant Missionaries. 
Joined the Mission. 



Mrs. Hall, (Margaret Lewis,) Dec. 19, 1816. 

Mrs. Newell, (Har. Atwood.) 

Mrs. Newell, (Phil. Thurston,) Married Mar. 26, 

1818. 

Mrs. Garrett, " Married to Mr. 

G., Mar. 26, 1822. 

Mrs. Nott, Feb. 11, 1818. 

Mrs. Bardwell, (Rach. Furbusb,) Nov. 1, 1816. 

Mrs. Nichols, (Eliz. Shaw,) Feb. 23, 1818. 

Mrs. Graves,:): (Mary Lee,) Feb. 23, 1818. 

Mrs. Frost, (C. Emerson,) June 28, 1824. 

Mrs. Allen, (Myra Wood,) Nov. 27, 1827. 

" (Orpah Graves,) Sept. 10, 1834. 

Married, Feb. 22, 1838. 

" (A. C. Condit,) m. Dec. 12, 1843. 

Mrs. Stone, (A. Frost,) Dec. 28, 1827. 

" (AM>y Kimbal,) Sept, 10, m. Oct. 

26, 1834 



Retur. to Amer., July 80, 1825. 
D. at Mauritius, Nov. 30, 1812. 

!-Ret. to Amer., Oct. 29, 1831. 18 



2 


9 


10 


6 








21 





17 




Length of 
Service. 


r rs. 


Mths 


Dys. 


8 


7 


11 












" Oct. 


7, 1815. 


2 


7 


26 


" Jan. 


22, 1821. 


4 


2 


21 


Oct. 


19, 1826. 


8 


7 


22 


Con. with Satara, Dec 


.1851. 


27 


8 


16 


Went to Ceylon, Oct. 12, 1826. 


2 


8 


14 


Died, Feb. 5, 1831. 




8 


2 


8 


Died, June 6, 1842. 




7 


8 


26 


Died, June 11, 1844. 







6 





Died, Aug. 7, 1833. 




5 


T 


10 



Withdrew, June 20, 1838. 



* Absent in America, 4 years, 6 months, 21 days. 

t Absent in N., 3 years, 3 months. 

$ Absent in America, 6 years, 6 months, 21 days. 




156 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Length of 
Joined the Mission. Servioo. 

Yrs. Mths. Dya 
Mrs. Hervey, (E. II. Smith,) March 7, 1881. Died, May 8, 1881. 
Mrs. Ramsey, (Mary Wise,) " Died, June 11, 1834. 

Mrs. Read, (Carol. Hubbell,) " Went to Nuggur, Dec. 20, 1881. 

Mrs. Munger, (M. L. Andrews,) Sept. 10, 1884. Went to Jalna, Feb. 1837. 
Mrs. Ballantine, (Eliz. Darling,) Oct. 11, 1835. Went to Nuggur, Oct, 20, 1836. 
Mrs. Hume, (H. D. Sackett,) Aug. 10, 1S89. Ret. to Anier., Sept. 20, 1854. 
Mrs. Wood, (Lucy Lawrence,) Jan. 19, 1848. Went to Satara, June 1, 1849. 
Mrs. Fairbank, (Abby Allen,) Jan. 1850. Died, Aug. 21, 1852. 

Mrs. Hazen, (M. Chapin,) Jan. 1855. Came to Amer., Jan. 1857. 

Mrs. Sampson, (M. L. Barker,) Nov. 22, 1883. Ret. to Amer., June, 1S8G. 
Mrs. Hubbard, (E. Burge,) Sept. 10, 1S34. " June 20, 1S37. 

Mrs. Webster, (M. Rawson,) Oct, 11, 1S35. " 1841. 

Miss Cynthia Farrar, Dec. 28, 1827. Came to America, 1837. 

25 in actual service. 

In preparing the above Table, time spent in voyages, and 
absence in America or elsewhere, is not reckoned. 

The existence of the Bombay mission from its origin to the close of 185C, 44 years. 

Yrs. Mths. Days. Yrs. Yrs. Mths. Days. 

Labor by 19 missionaries, 12S 20. Deduct 2 each, learning language, 90 20 

" 4 assist. « 21 17. " " " 13 17 

" 25 fern, assist, miss., 188 6 5. " " 4 ' SS C 5 

Actual service by all the missionaries and assistant missionaries, 191 7 12 

It may interest some to know how many of these labor- 
ers died in the field, how many returned etc. Counting 
Harriet Newell as having died in the service, though not 
having reached Bombay, and the following Table will show 
that 

Returned Transf. In the 

and Withdrew, to other Recalled. Mission 

Released, Missions. in 1856. 

Of the 19 missionaries, 6 4 2.6 1 

" 4 assist, miss., 2 - - - 2 - 

" 26 fem. assist miss., 8 7 1 7 2 1 

From the above facts, it is easy to gather the average time 
of each laborer in the mission, and, deducting two years for 
learning the language, the average period of effective labor, 
namely : 

Yrs. Mths. Days. Yrs. Yrs. Mths. Days. 

Average time by each miss., 6 8 26. less 2 for learning language, 4 8 26 

" " assist. " 5 3 4. " 2 " "334 

" " fern, assist. "56 14. "2 " • " 3 6 14 

" " of the 6 miss. 

who died in service, 10 9 19. "2 " "89 19 

Of all these laborers, only 4 missionaries, and 3 female 
assistant missionaries are now (1861) in India. 



Died in 
Service. 



PERMANENCY DESIRABLE. 157 

The reflecting reader will note the very short average pe- 
riod of effective service by each laborer, as brought to view in 
the preceding Table. Is it not worthy of consideration, 
whether the comparatively small results of labor in this 
Bombay mission are not owing in part to these very short 
periods of service and frequent changes among the mis- 
sionaries ? Not only have six missionaries and seven female 
assistant missionaries been transferred from this to other 
missions, but some of the laborers in this mission were trans- 
ferred to it from other missions. Occasional transfers may 
be desirable, but my experience has led to an abiding con- 
viction, that the more a feeling of individual responsibility 
can be increased in the members of a mission, by their long 
labor and personal interest in it, the better will it be for the 
progress of this work. 

Any thing which conflicts -with this feeling of personal in- 
terest and responsibility is injurious alike to the missionary 
and the mission. A man who is detached from duties in 
which his whole soul has become deeply interested, and sent 
to another field, will find time and effort necessary to make 
his heart-strings wind so closely around new objects. 

And, in like manner, when a missionary is sent to supply 
the place of another temporarily, he will not feel the same 
responsibility and interest as if he expected the change to be 
permanent. If the plans and measures he finds in use do 
not prove effective, he did not originate them. If he 
changes them he may soon leave, and his successor or pre- 
decessor may come and change them again. 

Much the same reasoning applies to all dictation and re- 
strictions from abroad. The home Officers of a Society 
should certainly have authority to limit the funds they will 
grant to a particular mission and to make grants for partic- 
ular objects if they choose, but if they put a missionary in a 
kind of " strait-jacket," interdicting his schools or his preach- 
ing in English, there is great clanger of destroying this desi- 
rable feeling of personal responsibility and interest, and thus 
degrading a missionary from his high character as a minis- 



158 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

ter of Christ, and rendering his labors to a great extent in- 
effective. 

I have known some unhappy instances which would il- 
lustrate these views, but will only commend the subject to 
the prayerful consideration of the Officers of our Missionary 
Societies. 



CHAPTER Y. 

CHARACTER AND RESULTS OF SCHOOLS IN THE 
AHMEDNUGGUR MISSION. 

Origin of the Mission. 

Ahmednuggur was once the seat of Moslem, power in 
this part of India. It is a city of 28,000 native inhabitants, 
situated above the Ghats or mountains, 175 miles northeast 
of Bombay, and is now a military station of the British 
Government. This site for a mission was explored and 
fixed upon by Rev. Messrs. Allen and Read, in November, 
183i, and on the 20th December following, Messrs. Graves, 
Hervey and Read arrived and commenced their labors. 

Among the first notices of this mission, we find mention 
of schools, and a poor's asylum, in which the missionaries 
"daily gave instruction." The poor inmates of this asylum 
were under the stated teaching and influence of the mission, 
and in this respect it bore a close analogy to a school, and 
secured much the same results. 

The first convert baptized was the wife of Babajee, who 
had been converted at Bombay, while employed as a " hea- 
then teacher." The mother of Dajeeba, another "heathen 
teacher," who had been converted at Bombay, was soon 
after baptized, and also several inmates of the poor's 
asylum. 

In the second year of this mission, a Presbyterian church 
was duly organized, consisting of 14 members, 10 of whom 
were natives. Babajee and Dajeeba were ordained elder and 
deacon, and the church was connected with the Third Pres- 
bvterv of New-York. How comes it that all elements of 



160 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Presbyterianism have disappeared from this church and 
mission ? 

Ahmednuggur was commenced as a station of the Bombay 
mission, but conflicting interests between stations and labor- 
ers so far removed from each other caused dissension, and it 
was separated from Bombay by a positive order of the Pru- 
dential Committee, and became an independent mission some 
years before I went to India. 

When Satara and Kolapoor were made distinct missions, 
Dr. Anderson wrote: "Large territorial missions do not 
work well any where. ... It seems, therefore, that nothing 
would be actually sacrificed, and much probably gained, by 
making four distinct Mahratta missions instead of two." 

And yet, by a recent order of the Prudential Committee, 
Dr. Anderson has reunited all these missions into one, and 
that too, against the recorded wishes and unanimous votes 
of all the brethren in the Ahmednuggur mission. 

Prominence given to Schools. 

The missionaries gave great prominence to schools, and as 
early as 1835, we find 9, and two years later, 17 free schools 
with heathen teachers in operation in Ahmednuggur and the 
surrounding villages ; and though the financial crisis of 1837 
enforced temporary retrenchment, yet these schools were so 
highly valued, that they were resumed as rapidly as possi- 
ble, and continued to increase and prosper till 1850, at 
which date there were no less than 21 in operation, most of 
them still having heathen teachers. Of such teachers, Mr. 
French fitly says: "We must employ them till it shall 
please the Head of the Church to give us others." His esti- 
mate of the usefulness of these schools may be inferred by 
his having eight of them under his superintendence at Se- 
roor, and wishing he had means for increasing their number. 
Of these teachers, the missionaries say: " They are regarded 
as in the most favorable circumstances for becoming ac- 
quainted with the truth and receiving it into their hearts." 

As to the character and value of these schools, take the 
following from the report of 1844 : 



PROMINENCE GIVEN TO SCHOOLS. 161 

" We have recently appointed a native superintendent to 
take charge of all of them, to visit them regularly and see 
that their Scripture-lessons, as well as their other studies, 
receive due attention, to assist in teaching the boys of the 
town schools on the Sabbath, and also to instruct a few 
young men with the design of preparing them to be school- 
teachers in the villages. We have long felt the importance 
of increasing the number of our village-schools, and we can 
obtain suitable teachers for them only by training them 
ourselves. The young man whom we have made superin- 
tendent, has long been employed as a teacher, originally b}~ 
Mr. Munger at Jalna, and afterwards by us at this station." 

Thus did the missionaries attach so much importance to 
these schools that they employed heathen teachers and heathen 
superintendents, not only in the infancy of the mission, when 
they had few or no converts, but when heathen teachers and 
superintendents were converted and received into the Church, 
they found other duties for them, and employed other hea- 
then teachers and heathen superintendents to conduct these 
schools. 

This page in the history of the Ahmednuggur mission is 
worthy of careful study, both for the evidence it furnishes 
of the views and practice of its missionaries, Messrs. Ballan- 
tine, Abbott, and French, and also for the signal success of 
these schools in leading to the conversion of the most intel- 
ligent and useful converts in the mission. The life-long and 
invaluable labors of Miss Cynthia Farrar have been spent in 
the Christian instruction and care of girls' schools with such 
heathen teachers. They proved a difficult and laborious, but 
most useful branch of labor. The reports of the mission 
and of the Board abound in statements as follows : " Miss 
Farrar is indefatigable in her exertions to make them as 
efficient as possible. A change is gradually taking place 
in public opinion as to the importance of female education ; 
but this change is slow, and we fear many years will elapse 
before the people of this place will desire to avail themselves 
extensively of the advantages afforded them for the educa- 
tion of their daughters." 



162 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Miss Farrar has lived to see this change sufficiently 
marked to elicit devout thanksgiving from every Christian 
heart. Her noble pioneer efforts have had much to do in 
producing this change, and their influence will be felt for 
good in Western India in all coming time. 

English School. 

It was early perceived by the missionaries that facilities 
for acquiring the English language would be effective in 
bringing a more hopeful class of Hindu youth under their 
Christian teaching, and hence, in 1835, they commenced an 
English school, which they " hoped would grow into an im- 
portant institution." 

In 1840 we find this school prospering, under the care of 
Mr. Burgess, with some thirty students, and the missionaries 
say : "It seems to be gaining favor with the people, and 
promises to accomplish much good/' 

Two years later we find the missionaries rejoicing in the 
large amount of Christian truth imparted to the young men 
in this school. They describe the thorough course of Christ- 
ian instruction, and the frequent visits of the pupils to their 
houses for books and conversation. " In short," they say, 
" there are many ways in which the existence of the school 
affords an opportunity of exerting an influence on a class 
of people who, comparatively speaking, are not reached by 
our other operations. It is attended by the sons of some of 
the first families in the city." . . " But we must not for- 
get that the growth of seminaries and colleges in heathen 
lands is gradual. The present generation of missionaries 
must cease from their labors before seeing but little more 
than a beginning of what will one day, by the divine bless- 
ing, be seen in Ahmednuggur." 

In full sympathy with this feeling the officers of the Board 
added : " One important object aimed at in teaching English, 
is to open to a portion of those great communities the trea- 
sures of religious and other useful kinds of knowledge 
which are stored up in that language." 

It was an object of desire to induce the high-caste pupils 



AHMEDNUGGUR MISSION SEMINARY. 103 

of this English school to come into the seminary on the 
same footing with the middle and low castes. In the infan- 
cy of the mission it was impossible to effect this, but as they 
came to value more the instruction and acquaintance of the 
missionaries, their prejudices gradually gave way, and in 
1843 the two schools were united, English being the induce- 
ment which brought and held them under the influence of 
the missionaries. 

Ahmednuggur Mission Seminary. 

At the origin of this mission the officers of the Board 
drew the attention of its missionaries to the prosperous 
boarding-schools of our brethren on the Island of Ceylon, 
and earnestly recommended them to adopt the same kind 
of schools. This they desired to do, but wrote : " The great 
hindrance to an enterprise of this kind is caste, which makes 
it almost impossible to obtain boarding-scholars of sufficient 
promise." 

They persisted in their efforts, however, and in 1836 we 
find them rejoicing "in the success of the boarding-school." 

This school was always known as the "Ahmednuggur 
Mission Seminary," and "was established on the same 
principle as the Batticotta Seminary in Ceylon." 

It was not till 1837 that the pupils of this seminary could 
be persuaded to sleep and eat on the mission premises, and 
the event marked progress which caused much rejoicing. 
The two prevailing motives which brought pupils into this 
school were, the teaching of English, and the allowance for 
food and clothing. " The course of study embraced several 
years, and included the acquisition of English." " The 
annual cost of the institution was about $1000." 

This institution was an object of special desire and foster- 
ing care with the Board. In the reports of these years we 
find repeated resolutions recommending " to the Prudential 
Committee to foster those seminaries already in operation, 
and to found others as there may be opportunity, with the 
hope of supplying, in part, the deficiency of Christian teach- 
ers from this country." The Committee approved, and the 



164 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

missionaries prosecuted their labors in these seminaries with 
heathen teachers and pupils, relying on the efficacy of God's 
truth and Spirit to convert these heathen youth, to whom 
they were looking as hereafter to supply the deficiency of 
Christian teachers. And their trust in God was not disap- 
pointed. These institutions, in all the different missions, 
have more than realized all the reasonable hopes that were 
ever based upon them. 

In the fifth year of this seminary we find the missionaries 
regretting that none of its pupils had been converted ; but 
they add : " We think impressions have been made on the 
minds of many of them, which will prevent them from ever 
engaging in ' abominable idolatries' with the sincerity of 
their fathers," and they express a hope that some of them 
would soon share in the grace of the Gospel. The missiona- 
ries resolved this year, 184:0, at their annual meeting, that 
their " native helpers should be taught the English language, 
so as to enable them to read and understand the English 
translation of the Bible, and use English Commentaries." 
This unbiased estimate of the value of English, on the part 
of the missionaries, is worthy of permanent record. How 
strictly the uniform views and practice of the missionaries 
accord with those earnest pleadings and testimony of all of 
us in 1853 and 1854 ! 

This seminary was specially valued by the missionaries, 
as being, with the schools having heathen teachers, the only 
connecting link with the people of the higher castes. For 
the first ten years of its existence, not one of its pupils was 
baptized, but the missionaries wavered not in their attach- 
ment to it, and the officers of the Board resolved that: 
"From the position which this seminary sustains to the 
missionary work, it obviously has strong claims to the sym- 
pathy and prayers of Christians in this -country. . . If 
the Holy Spirit shall descend from on high, bringing deliv- 
erance for these youthful captives of sin, who can estimate 
the value of the influence which shall go forth from its 
walls?" 

The Holy Spirit did descend upon this interesting school. 



BOARDING-SCHOOLS. 165 

After its first ten years its history is marked with frequent 
seasons of special religious interest, and converts were gath- 
ered in who have proved most valuable helpers in the mis- 
sionary work. Notices of some of these converts will be 
found in another place, and will be readily understood as 
constituting an important part of the history of this school. 

The Christian teaching and character of this seminary 
may be inferred from the following extract, taken from the 
report of the mission for 1848 : 

" Much religious instruction has been given in the semi 
nary. Mr. Burgess has usually devoted an hour to such 
instruction every morning, and heard regular classes in 
Scripture-lessons. Mr. Wilder has heard similar lessons, 
and during three months of the year gave lectures three 
times a week on the evidences of Christianity." These lec- 
tures were given mainly for the benefit of the native preach- 
ers and helpers of the mission. 

Speaking of the religious interest in the seminary, the re- 
port continues : " Three of the boys, children of Christian 
parents, asked for admission to the Church, and others were 
serious. A weekly prayer-meeting was maintained, attend- 
ed by ten or twelve of the boys. . . I have learned that 
four of the lads have expressed a determination to be on the 
Lord's side." But more of this school in the sequel. 

Boarding-Sehools. 

The other boarding-schools of this mission, besides the 
seminary, were, one for girls and a second for boys at Ah- 
mednuggur, one for each sex at Seroor, and the same at 
Jalna, under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Munger. It was with 
much difficulty that these schools were started at first, and 
for four or five years we find the missionaries regretting that 
"it has not been found possible to get up boarding-schools," 
and subsequently, as early as 1839, rejoicing that " the board- 
ing-schools were found to present inducements sufficiently 
strong to hold the pupils in the schools despite all the oppo- 
sition of the Brahmans." 
• They soon report the presence of some of the highest 



136 MISSION SCHOOLS.. 

native officials of government at the examination of the girls, 
and rejoice in the increasing favor and promise of the school. 
Mr. French, expressing a desire to increase the number of 
his boarding-scholars, adds : " A school of this description 
should be sustained at every station." 

The character of the primary boarding-school for boys at 
Ahmednuggur, may be inferred from the following report : 
"As the offspring of native church-members form a large 
and constantly increasing body of youth, our brethren deem 
it very desirable to give them a good Christian education. 
As many of them, moreover, come from other places, and 
their parents, generally, are too poor to support them away 
from home, a small sum (usually fifty cents a month) will be 
appropriated for their food, clothing and stationery. ' We 
think,' says Mr. Ballantine, ' that money spent in this way 
will be profitably laid out ; and that we may hope for as val- 
uable results from it as from any other expenditure.' The 
correctness of this opinion the Committee see no reason to 
call in question."* How came they to call it in question 
three or four years later, and suddenly interdict this very 
school ? And how came this good Brother B. to change his 
views just as suddenly ? 

Of the Christian influence brought to bear upon the pu- 
pils of these schools, Mr. B. says : 

" We might say some of them exhibit evidence that they 
have experienced the renewing influences of the spirit of 
God. We have strong hopes in regard to three or. four that 
such is the case, and the number of those who manifest an 
interest in the subject of religion is much greater. 

" The influence of the girls upon each other is decidedly 
religious, and against the follies of heathenism. Their meet- 
ing together for prayer, and their simple, childlike petitions, 
their desire for pardon and for assistance to resist sin, and 
their praj T ers for their friends, exhibit a state of mind which 
encourages us to hope that they do know something of the 
evil of sin, and of the importance of forsaking and resisting 
it, and of seeking divine assistance for this object. And 
when any one reproaches them with the intention of becom- 



BOARDING-SCHOOLS. 167 

ing Christians, they readily own their preference for Christi- 
anity and their abhorrence of idolatry. They are free to 
talk to their parents and friends on the subject, and evident- 
ly exert a great influence over them. Their parents fre- 
quently ask them to read to them, and are interested in 
hearing some story from the Bible, or some other good 
book." 

Of one of the girls, Mr. B. wrote : " She often converses 
with her parents on the subject of religion, and the mother 
especially, has learned much truth from her, but is afraid to 
yield to it." 

Frequent notices of this kind show the happy influence 
of these schools on adults as well as the children. It is even 
added : " The parents themselves, are also brought under 
religious instruction. Mrs. B. takes the mothers by them- 
selves, and reads to them a portion of Scripture, and con- 
verses with them. She thus learns their feelings, which 
they sometimes express very freely. Some of them tell us 
they have entirely given up the worship of idols." 

Of two little girls who died while in the boarding-school, 
the hope is expressed that Christian instruction had been 
blest to their salvation. The elder belonged to the little 
company of girls who used to meet for prayer, and the mis- 
sionary writes : " We can not but hope she is now with her 
Saviour, whom she wished to acknowledge publicly before 
the world. She had learned from dear Mrs. Burgess' death, 
how to die, calmly trusting in Jesus, and her death was so 
peaceful, that even her heathen parents wondered and re- 
joiced that their daughter could exhibit such peace and joy- 
ful trust in the Saviour, on her death-bed. 

"Her cousin was very young, but when near death, entreat- 
ed her mother to lie quiet that she might pray to the true 
God, and then repeated the first four commandments and 
the Lord's prayer, and died." 

Speaking of the deep impression thus made on young 
minds by Christian instruction, the missionaries say: "May 
we not hope that He who said, ' Suffer little children to 
come unto me, and forbid them not,' will accept as his, this 



168 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

almost infant who Lad learned to pray the prayer he 
taught ? The circumstances of her death as well as of the 
other, encourage us to continue to labor for such children." 
" A larger number than before are now accustomed to meet 
regularly for prayer, as well as to pray alone. Even the 
smaller girls soon come under the influence of Christian 
truth. Some of the mothers, too, seem to be much interest- 
ed in the subject of religion." 

Estimate of the Schools by the Missionaries. 

The extracts alread}^ quoted furnish abundant evidence 
of the high estimate of these schools in the views and prac- 
tice of the missionaries. But as their honest views have 
been widely misrepresented by some, it is proper to place 
their testimony on record a little more at length. 

Of their village schools, with heathen teachers, the mis- 
sionaries say, in 1838 : " We can not expect to superintend 
our village schools so closely as those in town, but then they 
form an important part of our operations. In making tours 
we always direct our first attention to the villages where our 
schools are situated, and generally find the people better 
prepared than in other places for hearing and understanding 
the word of this salvation. And we can pursue any sys- 
tematic course we please in visiting and instructing them." 

Thus these schools in the villages, least effectively super- 
intended, were regarded as very valuable agencies, notwith- 
standing their heathen teachers, and preaching- tours in such 
villages were most satisfactory and useful. 

When some of this class of schools were broken up by the 
opposition of the priests, rejoicing in the amount of good 
already accomplished by them,. Mr. Ballantine writes : " Con- 
siderable knowledge of divine truth has been communicated 
by their means, and the impression has been made that 
Christianity stands on such a foundation that idolatry is in 
great danger before it. All that ive have given for the support 
of these schools has, we think, been vjell bestowed." 

Of this same class of schools at Jalna, regretting that he 
could not have more of them, Air. Hunger says : " They 



ESTIMATE OF THE SCHOOLS BY MISSIONARIES. 169 

have undoubtedly beeu the means of good. They have 
communicated some knowledge of the Grospel of salvation 
to many families, whose prospects at the day of judgment 
will wear a very different aspect from what they would had 
not these schools been established among them." " The 
readiness with which the children study their Christian les- 
sons is particularly gratifying." " I have found both teach- 
ers and scholars much interested in the historical parts of 
the Scriptures." 

The impression has been made on some minds that the 
care of such schools detracts from the preaching time and 
character of the missionary. The fact is, they increase his 
facilities for preaching many fold. On this point Mr. Hun- 
ger writes: "The measure of attention which I give to 
these schools is far from being any impediment to the higher 
duties of my calling. On the contrary, they afford the 
means of gaining a more ready access to the people, and 
giving an illustration of the beneficial tendencies of the 
Gospel." 

Reporting his Sabbath audience as depending on "the 
children and teachers of his schools," Mr. Munger says: 1 
"Street-preaching, as might be expected, is becoming less 
popular. It is now more difficult to find people who will 
listen to the message of a Saviour's love. They even seem 
to avoid me." This testimony, of one who has spent much 
time in preaching- tours, illustrates the fact before stated, that 
alms, medicine, schools, or mone}' direct, must be used as 
means for gathering a permanent, stated audience in India, 
It is well for the Christian public to note how uniformly 
missionaries have been driven to one of these appliances, 
and how extensively they have employed schools as the 
agency which secures the most promising class of hearers, ' 
and appeals to the worthiest motives. 

The testimony of the whole mission accords with that of 
Mr. Munger on this point. Of bazaar-preaching the Report" 
for 1840 says : " We found so much angry discussion, and. 
so little apparent desire to become acquainted with the truth, 
that we .were led to think it was better to. make use prin-- 



170 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

cipally of our regular places for preaching on our own 
premises." 

On the other hand, even their preaching-tours led them 
to value their schools more than ever before. Messrs. Bur- 
gess and Ballantine, closing a report of a long preaching- 
tour, say: "In view of our tour we would remark that, if 
possible, toe are more than ever before convinced of the great im- 
portance of schools among this people. In those villages where 
the mission has had schools, we met with the best reception, 
and found the greatest number of readers. When we came 
to a village where there were few or no readers, we could 
not but feel that it was comparatively of but little use to 
stop and labor." 

Messrs. French and Abbott, on a similar tour, wrote : 
"This village, Sonay, contains some two hundred houses 
and only eight or ten readers. The reason is, they have 
had no school for many years. We saw here, as we often 
do in other places, the importance of schools." 

It must be borne in mind that the schools thus spoken of 
were scattered in the villages, and taught by heathen teach- 
ers. The mission report goes on to say: " We attach great 
importance to these schools. The class of men educated in 
our schools, and soon to appear on the stage of action, will 
be addressed by the missionary under much more favorable 
circumstances than their fathers, who grew up in ignorance. 
Besides, the school is even noio a standing recommendation of 
the missionary to the people whose children attend it, and to their 
neighbors. The school-house is a good preaching -place, and the 
truths taught in the school make an excellent basis for religious 
instruction." 

After giving some details of a preaching-tour, Mr. B. 
says: "From these facts the importance of schools is evi- 
dent. Even when a school is kept up in a village but a 
few months, the advantages are probably more than com- 
mensurate with the expense. Our elementary books contain 
the fundamental truths of Christianity, and for thirty or 
forty children to have committed these truths to memory 
we regard as a matter of great importance. It is sufficient, 



ESTIMATE OF THE SCHOOLS BY MISSIONARIES. 171 

with God's blessing, to save the soul. Even if the teachers 
are heathen, and endeavor to teach heathenism, yet they are 
obliged to teach Christianity or lose their wages. The vil- 
lagers where our"schools are located are far more favorable 
to us, and more willing to listen to our instruction, and what 
is perhaps of still greater importance, the teachers them- 
selves are subjected to a course of study of religious truth, 
which could be secured from them in no other situation. 
The two Brahman converts of which you have heard were 
heathen teachers, and now, while I am writing, two other 
teachers, interesting and talented young men, are candidates 
for baptism, and others still are evidently thinking on the 
subject of their souls' salvation. Such results, considering 
the small number of our schools, are exceedingly cheering. 
Oh ! that we had the means of establishing a school in every 
village within fifty miles of us. Want of funds is now the 
most prominent obstacle in the way of accomplishing what 
we would in this department." Again, after having spent a 
large amount of time and labor in preaching-tours, the mis- 
sionaries say : " These tours seem to be interesting and use- 
ful, especially when made to places where there are out- 
stations, schools, or Christian families." 

This seems to be a proper estimate of preaching- tours. I 
have spent several months nearly every year of my life in 
India on such tours, sometimes travelling hundreds of miles 
into the darker regions of heathenism, visiting celebrated 
shrines, thronged often with a hundred thousand pilgrims, 
and at other times restricting my labors to the villages in 
the near vicinity of my own station. I value this kind of 
labor, but experience has convinced me that its value is 
very much less than that of schools. It is a department of 
labor preeminently preparatory. It is well to break up 
fallow ground, but it yields no immediate fruit, and he who 
devotes all his time, and money, and labor to this single 
branch of business will soon find his family starving, and 
himself a bankrupt. But for schools in the Ahmednuggur 
mission the results of labor would have been meagre, and 
mostly confined to the poor-house to the present time. 



172 MJtSStOX SCHOOLS. 



Estimate of the Schools by the Board. 

The missionaries affirm that all these schools originated 
at the express wish and advice of the home Officers of the 
Board, and their statement is sustained by good evidence. 
This is found not only in the manuscript letters of the Se- 
cretary through all the first twenty years of the mission, but 
also in the Missionary Herald and the frequent resolutions 
passed at annual meetings. Some of these resolutions have 
been incidentally quoted already. "We will not repeat them. 
But of the many others which abound in the reports and 
organs of the Board take the following, in 1842. Some of 
the village schools with heathen teachers had been broken 
up -by the opposition of the priests, whereupon the Herald, 
grieving for their loss, declares : " Schools of this kind are 
too important an auxiliary to the missionary to be aban- 
doned." Who can avoid the inquiry, If this was true in 
1842, why not equally so in 1852 ? 

For eight subsequent years the testimony is unvarying. 
In 1848 the Annual Keport of the Board says-: "Their 
schools are in a more prosperous and promising condition 
than at any previous time. The Spirit of God has been 
present in some of them, manifesting his renewing power 
in the conversion of some of the pupils." 

Again in 1850, " In regard to the mission at Ahmeclnug- 
gur, your committee particularly notice the prosperous state 
of the schools." Of the seminary they say : "This institution 
seems especially to call for commendation.' 1 '' 

Why, oh ! why the sudden and unaccountable change of 
feeling in regard to these schools and this promising semi- 
nary the very next spring ! 

But we will not anticipate. The earnest and frequent 
commendations of all these schools up to 1851, are on record 
in the organs of the Board, and we need not quote more of 
them here. 

Estimate of the Schools by Europeans. 

There is no department of missionary labor in India which 
has so generally secured the warm approval, interest, and 



•ESTIMATE OF THE SCHOOLS BY EUROPEANS. 178 

cooperation of European Christians there on the ground as 
our schools. This fact is deserving of notice by the friends 
of missions in Christian lands. The judgment of disinter- 
ested men on the spot, with an eye to all our operations, 
ought to be of more value than theories devised by stran- 
gers, at the distance of half the circumference of the globe. 

The estimate and interest of European Christians in these 
schools is attested by their generous donations for their sup- 
port. ISTo other branch of our labors has elicited from them 
such ready and generous aid. In the infancy of the mission 
" the girls' schools were supported by the European ladies." 
When some of the schools were broken up by the financial 
crisis of 1837, " the European residents subscribed some 
Ks.5000 for these schools. This enabled the mission to sus- 
tain the seminary and some of the other schools." At 
Jalna, in 1838, Mr. Munger's boarding-school and some of 
the free schools were supported by the English residents. At 
a later date, urging the Prudential Committee to send more 
laborers, Mr. Munger says : " Will you not regard the readi- 
ness of the Europeans here to relieve you of the entire ex- 
pense of native education, as an indication of its being the 
Lord's will that } t ou sustain these labors ? Give us a helper, 
and I will pledge myself to furnish funds adequate to the 
educational purposes of the station so long as the great Head 
of the Church shall continue me here." 

The ready liberality of our European friends for the sup- 
port of these schools will be remembered, as it came to view 
in the history of the Bombay mission. When our Pru- 
dential Committee called for retrenchment in the schools of 
our Ahmednuggur mission, in 1848, I mentioned our emer- 
gency to a dear English friend, the chaplain of the station, 
and in a few days he brought me some Es. 1500 — enough to 
support all our schools the balance of the year. In our new 
mission at Kolapoor, where our Deputation interdicted all 
our schools, those same schools were always supported by 
our European friends, not a farthing of their expense ever 
having come from the home funds of the Board. Facts and 
evidence on this point might be adduced to almost any ex- 



174 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

tent. But it is not necessary. The views of our European 
friends, and the practice of European missionaries in regard 
to schools, are becoming pretty well understood in America. 

Do Heathen Teachers counteract Christian Instruction ? 

But some object to these schools that the heathen teach- 
ers employed in them counteract the influence of Christian 
teaching. We might meet this objection as Mr. B. has, by 
saying, " They are obliged to teach the Christian lessons or 
they receive no pay," and when divine truth is communi- 
cated to the minds and hearts of the pupils and teachers ot 
these schools we my safely leave results to Grod. 

A more conclusive reply to this objection is found in the 
actual conversions which have resulted from such schools, 
and this will be noted when we speak of the conversion of 
heathen, teachers. But in the mean time, what mean such 
paragraphs in the mission reports as the following ? — 

" An interesting fact occurred a few days ago in connec- 
tion with the teacher of one of our village schools. Hurri- 
punt went out to examine the school, and the teacher re- 
turned in company with him. Their time was occupied in 
conversing on the subject of religion, and the objections of 
the teacher were all answered one by one, till at length he 
acknowledged that his course was wrong and the Christian 
religion was right. A few days after, he called at the house 
of one of us, bringing with him a friend whom he wished to 
convince of the truth of Christianity. During the conversa- 
tion which followed, he would often add his voice on the 
side of the missionary, and endeavor to show his friend that 
all idolatry was wrong and the Christian religion true." 

May we not trust the truth of God even in the hands of 
heathen teachers when it produces such results ? But let us 
take the testimony of the missionaries themselves on this 
point. In 1842, Mr. Ballantine writes : "Of some of our 
\lteathen] teachers we can' say with safety, that their influ- 
ence over their pupils is not in favor of heathenism, . . 
but on the contrary much of their instruction goes to the 
subversion of heathenism. Such being the case, and as we 



THE SCHOOL-GIRL AND THE LORD'S PRAYER. 175 

hope that these teachers themselves will be benefited by the 
truth which they have such good opportunities to learn, we 
are content to employ them, although still heathen, especially 
as the effort to sustain these schools with Christian teachers, in 
case we had Christian teachers for the purpose, would probably 
result in the immediate withdrawal of all the scholars under our 
influence ." 

This testimony of Mr. B. is worthy of permanent record, 
as also the comment of the officers of the Board, namely : 
"The foregoing extract shows well how the free primary 
school patronized by the mission, and that, too, while under 
the instruction of men who have not yet renounced heathen- 
ism, may be an excellent channel for conveying Christian know- 
ledge to the minds of the pupils, the teachers, the parents, and the 
friends of all connected with the schools" 

Now place these statements by the side of those of Mr. B. 
and the Deputation in their reports and doings in 1854, and 
whence, oh ! whence the sudden and total change ! 

The School-Girl and the Lord's Prayer. 

In this connection, take the following incident which oc- 
curred in one of Miss Farrar's girls' schools, taught by hea- 
then teachers. Besides chapters in the Bible, Christian 
hymns, catechisms, and the like, all the little girls were 
taught to repeat the Lord's prayer. Many of them learned 
to do it devoutly, and with a clear understanding of its im- 
port. Among these was a sweet little girl of thoughtful 
brow, who showed special fondness for this prayer. One 
day her father came to the school and listened long and at- 
tentively to the lessons of the girls. When they repeated 
the Lord's pra}^er, he asked many questions about it, and 
told Miss Farrar that his little daughter " every night when 
she lay down, and every morning when she arose, alwaj^s 
covered her face with her blanket and repeated that prayer." 
He added that at first he did not understand what it meant, 
and when he asked her, she told him "this was the way to 
worship the true God." 

In giving an account of this incident some months after 



176 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

it occurred, the missionary wrote : " The little girl still con- 
tinues to pray. The father also comes to the chapel on the 
Sabbath, though previous to the establishment of this girls' 
school he was entirely unknown to us." How happily this 
case illustrates the influence of those schools both on the 
tender minds of the children and on the harder hearts of their 
parents and friends. 

Pupils of a Heathen Teacher throw away the Idols. 

Of much the same significance is the following incident, 
which occurred in a school of Mahar boys, taught by a 
heathen teacher. The report of the mission gives it in sim- 
ple terms as follows : 

" The teacher seems to be much engaged in instructing 
his scholars in the truths of Christianity, and the result is 
very encouraging. The boys not only refuse to worship 
idols themselves, but laugh at their parents for their folly 
in bowing down to wood and stone ; and they have actually 
gone so far as to puU up and throw away the idol gods in their 
part of the village, much to the astonishment and confusion 
of their elders. Probably none of the boys belonging to the 
higher castes would be allowed to exhibit sq much opposi- 
tion to long-established customs, without being removed 
from the school. But here, so far from this being the case, 
the parents appear more friendly to the truth than ever." 
The report goes on to state that formerly the native helpers 
were much abused in that same village, but now the people 
were conciliated, listened attentively to Christian instruction, 
and " acknowledged that the word of God is indeed the 
truth." All this the result of one little school, costing some 
three dollars a month. Is it any wonder that the mission- 
aries valued such schools, held on to them as long as they 
could, and plead for them with most forcible arguments and 
earnest entreaties ? 

Conversion of Pupils. 

We have already seen how the hearts of very young 
pupils even were affected by the truth, and that, too, in the 
schools taught bv heathen teachers. There is sufficient evi- 



RAMK0HE AXD HER MOTHER. 177 

dence that many of them were truly converted. The 
weighty charge tabled against these schools by the Deputa- 
tion was, that no converts had been gathered from them. 
It is a fact that when pupils in these schools showed much 
promise and interest in Christian truth, they were taken into 
the boarding-schools, and thus brought more closely under 
the influence and protection of the missionaries before their 
baptism. But to disparage and disallow these training- 
schools for this reason, would be just as sensible as to dis- 
allow all the academies and colleges for training ministers in 
Christian lands, because none become ministers till they 
enter the higher seminaries. Besides, our boarding-schools, 
too, were interdicted by the Deputation, and certainly this 
plea could not be urged against them. The converts re- 
ceived to the Church from this class of schools are numer- 
ous, and still among the brightest lights of our Christian 
communities in India. Our limits forbid us to specify many 
of these cases in detail ; but take one among the first fruits 
of our girls' boarding-school. 

Eamkore and her Mother. 

In the early years of the mission there appeared at 
Ahmednuggur a lone woman, of good caste, leading by the 
hand a little girl. . Her countenance was sorrowful. She 
was a widow, and the child fatherless. Left destitute in the 
distant village where her husband died, she had travelled on 
foot seventy miles, alternately leading and carrying this little 
girl, her only child, till she reached the city of Ahmednug- 
gur. Wherefore did she come ? She had been told that in 
this city she had a wealthy uncle, and she hoped he might 
befriend her and her orphan child. But he received her 
coldly, and, after subsisting a few days on the charity of 
strangers, her troubled thoughts reverted to the stinted 
kindness of some poor neighbors in her distant village at 
the time of her bereavement, and taking her little girl by 
the hand, she turned her back upon the city, and started on 
her weary journey to the village where had been her home. 

She could illy conceal her sorrow, and as she was passing 
8* 



178 MISSION SCHOOLS, 

through the city gate, a Hindu who had seen her at her 
uncle's door, and learned her sad story, felt some movings 
of pity, and thus addressed her: "Good woman, where are 
you going ?" Choking with grief, she replied : " Back to 
my village, Maharaj ; we can not live here." " But you'll 
die by the way ! where will you get bread ?" Bursting into 
tears, she confessed her only resource was in the charity of 
those who might feel compassion for her. "Yonder," said 
the Hindu, pointing to a part of the city where lived the 
missionaries— " yonder live some white people whom we 
call ''Padre sahib. 1 They are not like the English who come 
here and rule over us. They are white like them, and talk 
like them. But they say their country is still farther away, 
beyond another great sea. And really they are a very good 
sort of people. They take no money from us, but show 
great kindness. They establish schools for our children, 
and teach them to read, and many useful things. In one of 
their schools they even give the little girls food to eat and 
clothes to wear. The only trouble is, their religion is differ- 
ent from ours, and some of our people have become defiled 
(Christians) like them, and that makes us afraid of them. 
But really, they are very kind people, and if you are not 
afraid your little girl will become defiled, you might take 
her there, and they would take care of her." 

The poor woman listened with conflicting feelings. She 
cast a glance at her child, and then looked in the direction 
the Hindu had pointed. The act was repeated again and 
again, and still she hesitated. The thought of her little 
daughter's becoming defiled was terrible. But after a little, 
taking the child by the hand, she turned back through the 
lanes of the city, and they soon appeared at the door of the 
missionary. 

Little Ramkore was welcomed to the school, and maternal 
affection kept the mother, too, within reach of daily Christ- 
ian instruction. 

Our next notice of this interesting girl is in the language 
of the missionaries. They say: "Ramkore is now about 
ten years old, and has long seemed to love the truth. She 



RAMKORE AND HER MOTHER. 179 

is naturally of a very mild disposition, and one of the most 
lovely girls in the school. Some months ago a neighbor 
came to her mother, and begged this little girl in marriage 
for her son. The mother consulted the daughter. Ram- 
kore's first question was, ' Is he a Christian ?' and when told 
that he was not, she replied that she would never marry any 
one that was not a Christian. Her mother reminded her 
that she would probably never find a Christian husband, 
when she at once repeated her resolute purpose never to 
marry an idolater." 

A little further on in the reports of this mission, we find 
an interesting account of this mother's conversion and bap- 
tism. Brought thus incidentally under the influence of the 
Gospel, coming at first with hesitation and trembling, lest 
her child should become a Christian, that mother's heart is 
touched and converted ; and instead of fearing her little girl 
will become a Christian, she begins to pray that she may — 
brings her forward and consecrates her to the true God in 
baptism. What agency did God employ for bringing this 
heathen mother to a saving knowledge of the truth ? Does 
the question admit of any doubt ? Is not the agency of the 
school clear and unmistakable ? 

But let us return to Ramkore. The missionaries soon say 
of her : " We do hope this little girl is already a child of 
God. She has long seemed to love the society of Christians, 
the reading of the word of God, and the exercise of prayer 
and praise. Still, as she is so young, being only about ten 
years old, we thought it best that she should be baptized on 
the faith of her mother. Her influence upon two or three 
of her companions has been very good, and our hopes have 
been strongly excited in regard to them." 

The very next year we have an account of the admission 
of this dear girl, and her three companions, to the fellowship 
of the Church, as the first fruits of the girls' boarding-school. 
Ramkore still lives to adorn her Christian profession. She" 
presents in that dark land the pattern of a frugal, industri- 
ous, intelligent, lovely, Christian wife and mother, training 
her children in the fear of God, a true helpmeet for her 



180 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

worthy husband — a native pastor, while her winning and 
elevating influence upon all around her is precious as oint- 
ment poured forth. Her aged mother, too, lives with her, 
and pleasant must be their remembrance of all the way by 
which the Lord has led them. 

In tracing the history of this girls' boarding-school, we 
find frequent notices like the following : 

" One of the girls has been admitted to the Church during 
the year, and two or three of the present members of the 
school desire baptism." 

"In November one of the girls, and two other young 
females who were long members of this school, were re- 
ceived into the Church." 

" We should not omit to mention that four or five of the 
largest girls have for some months been asking for baptism." 
And again : " Four of these converts were girls in the 
boarding-sch ool . " 

The records of the mission do not enable us to determine 
what proportion of the converts were pupils of these schools, 
but it was very large ; and then, in case of adult converts, 
the influence of the schools was very marked in all of them, 
and the case of Bamkore's mother would illustrate many of 
them. 

Influence of Schools on Adults. 

The facts and testimony of the mission on this point de- 
serve more specific notice. The schools have uniformly 
proved the main connecting link between the missionaries 
and the people. The advantages of the boarding-schools 
became extensively known, and their influence in eliciting 
interest and attention, and bringing parents and friends in 
connection with the mission for the sake of placing their 
children in these schools, became very strong and manifest. 

When one of the pupils of the seminary died, giving 
gratifying evidence that he had become a Christian, we 
immediately find that bis dying testimony in favor of 
Christianity, led both his parents to come to the mission for 
instruction. Mr. Abbott writes : 

u They determined to come and hear what Christianity is. 



INFLUENCE OF SCHOOLS OX ADULTS. 181 

They left their homes to come and live with me. They had 
another son in the seminary, and they immediately put 
their oldest daughter in the girl's boarding-school. From 
that time to this, the father has been persevering in learn- 
ing the way of salvation. He has now learned to read, and 
says that the more he learns of Christianity the more he 
likes it. He says he thinks he has given his heart to Christ, 
and is determined to serve him the remainder of his life." 

What was the agency blest of Grod in case of these adults ? 

Again Mr. A. writes : 

u Various opportunities occur of giving religious instruc- 
tion to a great many people who are in some way connect- 
ed with these boys. Their mothers and sisters usually 
bring them their food, to whom Mrs. A. reads and con- 
verses while the boys are eating. They have lately be- 
come much interested in this exercise, and some of them 
have manifested a good deal of seriousness. Owing to the 
marriage connections of the boys, people from distant vil- 
lages are often brought around us, and sometimes stop seve- 
ral days. They often hear from us for the first time the 
story of Christ." Mr. A.'s lectures and experiments in 
the natural sciences, drew large audiences, and communi- 
cated much valuable instruction, bearing on the truth of 
Christianity. "These make them feel that if God had 
made their Shasters, he would not have made so many 
mistakes on this and many other subjects." 

Mrs. Burgess, while in charge of the girls' common 
schools with heathen teachers, was often heard to say: 
" I have had a very interesting time to-day. I regard 
these schools as very important." In her visits to the 
schools, she often had crowds of women, the mothers and 
neighbors of the girls, to' listen to her instruction, and in 
this way much Christian truth was extensively communi- 
cated in the most winning and effective manner. 

Speaking of the "good effected by the girls' boarding- 
school," and giving an account of a little girl in it who 
died, leaving good evidence of piety, Mr. Ballantine adds : 
" We hope both the parents of this little girl are true be- 



182 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

lie vers in Christ. Many remarks which they make show 
ns that they have no confidence in the gods of the hea- 
then." And again : " There are many parents of girls now 
here, and of those who have left, icho owe all their know- 
ledge of Christian truth to being brought into connection with us 
by means of this school. ," 

Doubtless this estimate of the schools is entirely correct. 
They have ever proved very effective in bringing parents 
and friends of the pupils under the influence of the mission, 
and of stated Christian instruction, and then the Lord has 
condescended to grant his blessing, and gather them into the 
visible Church. 

Reporting hopeful cases of inquiry, Mr. B. says : " Yes- 
terday I had a long conversation with two of them. One 
is a boy who has been brought up in our schools, and is now 
a teacher. He is connected with the principal Brahman 
families in Ahmednuggur." 

These schools have ever been necessary to secure stated 
audiences, especially in new missions. In the reports of 
this mission, so recently as 1848 and subsequently, we 
read : " The majority of our Sabbath congregation are 
connected with us, or are members of our schools." The 
same was true at Seroor. " At Bhingar there is no chapel, 
and no regular congregation. Mr. Munger spends an hour 
and a half or so, on the Sabbath, giving religious instruc- 
tion to the children of his school, when more or less of 
their friends and others, are present." If these schools 
were necessary to secure a preaching audience in a mission 
of fifteen or twenty years' growth, how much more necessary 
must they be in missions newly commenced in unbroken 
heathenism. ? 

It appears that the officers of the Board early entertained 
an idea, probably from the large number of Mahar inquirers 
and converts, that these Mahars, like the Karens of Bur- 
mah, were to be converted " en masse," and thus one layer 
of the community being wholly pervaded by the spirit of 
Christianity, it would rapidly extend upward through the 
higher castes. This expectation was probably based upon 



INFLUENCE OF SCHOOLS ON ADULTS. 183 

wrong impressions of the character and influence of this 
class of the native community. 

From the fact, too, that many of tire Mahar converts be- 
longed in the villages some distance from Ahmednuggur, it 
seems to have been inferred that they were mainly the re- 
sult of preaching-tours. The fact that the schools attracted 
them from their villages to the city, that they came and 
placed their children in the schools, and generally remained 
by them, sharing the benefit of stated Christian instruction 
for years — this seems not to have been sufficiently under- 
stood in Boston. Many preaching-tours were performed, 
and the missionaries very properly say, " Nor do we think 
all these tours among the villages are vain," and yet they 
frankly admit, " We have not yet seen much immediate 
fruit from them in the way of conversion;" and doubtless, 
in the honest judgment, of all the laborers in that mission, 
these schools had more to do in bringing in the Mahar 
converts than any and all other agencies combined. The 
mothers of the pupils were gathered into classes and daily 
taught to read, and Christian truth impressed upon their 
minds. The same was done with many of their fathers, 
and when these adults were converted, as many of them 
were, they might almost as properly be classified as fruits 
of the schools, as if they had been pupils, pro forma. 

Why were they not scholars, and converted through the 
agency of the schools, as really as their children ? The 
character of the schools into which they were gathered is 
often and clearly brought to view, in the reports of the 
missionaries. They say : " Considerable has been clone the 
past year, as well as in previous years, to instruct the adults 
in reading and in the word of God. Each of the ladies of 
the mission has performed more or less of this kind of work 
with the native women immediately around her. The Bible 
is read and explained to them ; they are taught the Lord's 
prayer and ten commandments, and Christian catechism, 
and commit to memory verses in the Bible. Many have 
learned to read the Bible intelligently. As one result of 
these efforts, [or schools,] most of the wives of our Christ- 



1>4 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

ian converts are desirous of being received into the 
Church." 

The Mahars felt the inducements and influence of the 
schools far more than the higher castes, and at the same 
time had no sacrifices to make when they became Christians. 
On this point the report of the Board says : u A great por- 
tion of the converts have hitherto been from the Mahar 
caste — one of the lowest in the scale. While persons of a 
higher rank, on becoming Christians, renounced caste, and 
were consequently disowned by their friends, the Mahars 
lost no privileges among their own people by taking this 
step." These facts ought to have impressed the officers of 
the Board with the* importance of increasing the agencies 
which would strengthen their hold on the higher castes. 
Had this been done, the interests and prospects of the mis- 
sion would have been greatly improved. The conversion 
of heathen teachers and pupils in the seminary had furnish- 
ed evidence, that when once brought to understand and 
feel the truth the high castes were readily affected by it, 
and were not wanting in manly and moral courage, to avow 
their faith in Christ, even at the risk of losing patrimony, 
wife, children and all other friends, sacrifices which no 
Mahar convert was ever called to make. 

In view of these circumstances who can fail to see that 
the suppression of the seminary, of the study of English, 
and the schools with heathen teachers, unavoidably severed 
the connection between the mission and the higher castes? 
Such was the result, and one much to be regretted. 

Un-wise to limit Efforts to the Lotv Castes. 

All souls are precious, and the lowest in the scale of 
humanity, are not to be neglected. i: To the poor the Gos- 
pel is preached," and shall be to the end of time. But it 
is no disgrace to the Grospel that Saul of Tarsus felt and 
yielded to its power. And it is no reproach to the mission- 
ary, if his heart goes out in earnest longings to gather in 
Sauls and Luthers and Melancthons, from the ranks of the 
Brahmans and hisrh castes of India. But to do this he must 



r.VWlSK TO LIMIT EFFORTS TO LOW CASTES. LS5 

have appliances to bring these high castes under his teach- 
ing and influence. When we weigh the moral power and 
influence of such converts for the conversion of their coun- 
trymen, the value of any appliances which secure them can 
hardly be over-estimated. The strong desire for English 
kept some of these high castes in the seminary, and the 
free schools with heathen teachers availed for the same pur- 
pose. But when these were abandoned, the link was bro- 
ken. 

As the Mahar converts increased, the Secretary of the 
Board seems to have attached increasing importance to 
labor among them, to the neglect of the higher castes. 
With reference to this fact, Mr. Abbott, in 184:4, wrote : 

' ; Where we formerly had schools, the people listen to the 
truth with greater interest than elsewhere. From remarks 
which we sometimes see in the Herald, I apprehend there is 
a wrong impression in regard to the pi % ospects of missionary 
labor among the Mdhars as compared with other castes." Mr. 
A. thought there was as much hope of the conversion of 
the higher castes as of the Mahars, if the mission could only 
have agencies to reach them ; though lie admitted the fact 
that the Mahars have nothing to lose and something to gain 
in reputation, while they run no risk of pecuniary loss ; 
but that the higher castes have " every thing to lose in re- 
putation, and their civil, social, and pecuniary losses are 
realities, and must continue to be so till they shall become 
Christians in a body. Besides losing wife and children, 
they have a prospect of starvation." 

It is easy to see why the missionaries attached very great 
value to the schools which gave them influence with these 
higher castes. They felt reluctant to see their efforts and 
the fruits of their labor restricted to the Mahars. The posi- 
tion and proportion of the Mahars in the native community 
entitle them to no such prominence. In one hundred villa-' 
ges near Ahmednuggur, with an aggregate of 84,000 inhab- 
itants, the number of Mahars is only 7187 — so that con- 
sidering their small number and little influence, the idea of 
restricting missionary efforts to the Mahars, would show a 



186 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

very narrow and unwise policy, in efforts to convert India. 
Many candid and thoughtful men who study this page of 
missionary history, will be unable to avoid feeling that, at 
this stage of the mission, while continuing all due attention 
to Mahars, it would have been true wisdom to have increas- 
ed as much as possible the effective agencies for influencing 
the higher castes. 

Had this been done at the period now under review, a 
great advantage would have accrued to the mission. For 
some years the mission seminary was the' only high-school 
in the city. Had its facilities been increased for teaching 
the English language and sciences, it might have brought 
all the intelligent and high-caste }^outh who wished to prose- 
cute these studies, under the constant influence and Christian 
teaching of the mission. Neglecting to furnish such facilities, 
an increasing desire for them among the Hindu youth, even- 
tuated in the establishment of a government English school 
to meet this demand. 

I have no invidious feelings towards government schools. 
I rejoice in all that government has done, and is doing for 
the education of Hindu youth, and would gladly see its 
schools increased tenfold. True, I would gladly see the 
Bible and Christian instruction introduced into these 
schools. When true science has exploded the sophisms 
and errors of Hinduism, and set youthful minds free 
from the shackles of superstition, I believe that the word 
of God is the only magnet which can hold them back from 
the deepest abysses of infidelity, and keep them true to 
God, to themselves, and to virtue. But if government will 
not teach the Bible, let it teach true science, and impart the 
benefits of a sound education, as extensively as possible ; 
and let missionaries and the Christian Church be on the 
watch to supplement the deficiency as rapidly and widely 
as possible. 

And yet, when there is an opening, like that which ex- 
isted at Ahmednuggur the first ten years of the mission 
seminary, with no government institution as a rival, there 
is a choice opportunity presented for bringing the most 



VALUE OF A SCHOOL AT NEWASE. 187 

promising class of Hindu youth under our instruction — a 
price put in our hands, which if we do not use most effect- 
ively for advancing the cause of Christ, we are verily cul- 
pable. By neglecting to enlarge their facilities for teach- 
ing English and the sciences, the mission lost this valuable 
opportunity. A few good caste youth continued to attend 
— enough to make the seminary one of our most valuable 
agencies, but our vantage-ground for bringing all the youth, 
who desired such education, under Christian teaching, was 
voluntarily relinquished. 

Value of a School at ISTewase. 

The happy influence of schools in conciliating the heath- 
en, and overcoming their deep-rooted prejudices and bitter 
opposition, is forcibly illustrated in the history of the out- 
station at Newase. This village is situated some thirty-six 
miles from Ahmeclnuggur, in the beautiful valley of the 
Crodavery, and the scattered converts and increasing interest 
in the surrounding villages, rendered it extremely desirable 
to make it an out-station, by establishing a native assistant 
there. But the Brahmans long thwarted our most perse- 
vering efforts. All our attempts to rent or purchase a house 
for the native preacher were unavailing ; and as they suc- 
ceeded in foiling our endeavors }^ear after year, their pride 
and haughty bearing increased, and they boasted that they 
would never let us have a station in their village. 

Brother F., who had the business in charge, first tried to 
rent a house. He found one owned by a poor widow, who 
was glad to let it; but just as the contract was being closed 
the priests heard of it, and their threats soon availed with 
the poor woman, and she dared not let it. Very soon such 
a spirit prevailed in the place that no house could be rented 
for any price. Brother F. was then authorized to purchase 
a house. He at length found one about to be sold at auc- 
tion, as the owner was insolvent, and we flattered ourselves 
that success was now secure. The day for the auction came, 
and brother F. and one of our native preachers were on the 
spot. The bidding went on til) the Hindus reached their 



188 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

highest limit, and then our native preacher bid above them. 
Thereupon the angry Brahmans raised such a tumult that 
the judge dared not proceed with the sale, but referred it 
to the higher magistrate at Ahmednuggur. He decided, 
very properly, that the sale must go on, and if the priests 
did not wish a Christian to buy it they must out-bid him, 
and another day was appointed for the sale. 

Brother F. and Hurripunt, a native preacher, went out 
to 1ST. some days beforehand, to be sure and be in time, 
and engaging a native to inform them the day before the 
auction was to take place, they went on to other villages. A 
few days after, they were awakened one dark and stormy 
night by their messenger, who came to tell them the auc- 
tion would take place the next morning. The rain was 
pouring and the darkness intense, but how could they lose 
the opportunity to secure the house? They prepared a 
lighted torch and traced their way back through mud and 
rain and swollen rivers, fifteen miles, to Newase, as best 
they could, thankful to reach there a little before the hour 
for the sale. But what was their chagrin to find that the 
auction had transpired the day before ! Their messenger 
had been duped or bribed by the wily Brahmans, whose 
mirth and triumph at our expense were now boisterous and 
prolonged. 

We do not wonder that brother F. closed his account of 
this event by writing: " What Brahmans can not clo open- 
ly and according to law, they can do lawlessly and in the 
dark, making the government officers, in many cases, their 
tools." 

At length brother F. heard of a house at Newase, the 
Hindu owner of which lived at Poona, one hundred miles 
distant. Correspondence ensued. The owner came to see 
us, apparently extremely anxious to sell. He was offered a 
generous price. He affirmed that it cost more to build it, 
and dwelt much on the risk he. would incur from the angry 
priests. The offer was increased, and still he delayed to 
accept it. The case was brought before the mission again 
and again. Willing to give even more than the house was 



VALUE OF A SCHOOL AT KEWASE. 189 

worth for the sake of gaining so desirable a point, the mis- 
sion listened to each proposal, and the offer was increased 
to Es. 500—600—650—700—800, and finally to Es. 850. 
About a year had been consumed in the negotiation, and 
still the Hindu delayed to accept the offer, feeling, doubt- 
less, that he was making money faster in this way than he 
could by honest labor. 

At this stage of the business, brother F. was obliged to 
leave the mission by the failing health of his wife. They 
went to Bombay, and a vote of the mission threw all his 
duties upon myself, in addition to the heavy burdens I al- 
ready had. A hasty tour in the valley convinced me that 
we had better succeed at once in establishing this out-station 
or abandon it entirely. The protracted efforts and constant 
triumph of the priests, were resulting only in harm. The 
native Christians and inquirers were much dispirited by the 
scorn, persecution and boastful threats to which they were 
constantly subjected. For some three years the struggle 
had continued, and we had been foiled at every step. The 
mission agreed that it was best to end it at once, either by 
succeeding or totally abandoning the attempt. 

The owner of the house was still in Ahmednuggur. He 
came at my call, ready to resume the negotiation. I re- 
minded him of the many months he had consumed in this 
way, and told him I did not think he wanted to sell the 
house at all. He declared he did. I told him Mr. F.'s 
offers were very generous — altogether too high, and as he 
had not accepted them they were now all withdrawn. He 
looked crest-fallen. He declared he would delay no longer, 
but would accept Mr. F.'s last offer at once. No, said I ; 
his offers are all cancelled, and we'll begin anew. After a 
little delay he inquired with evident anxiety what I would 
give. I made him understand that my offer would not be 
increased, and his decision would be final. I fixed the' offer 
at Es. 500, striking off Es. 350 of the former offer. He 
looked distressed, and began to say he could not take it, 
when I asked him not to decide too hastily, but to think of 
it twenty-four hours, and then come and give me his an- 



190 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

swer, yes or no, and if lie declined the offer we would never 
say another word about it. He wished to talk more, but 
taking advantage of Eastern etiquette, I bowed a civil sa- 
lam, and he felt constrained to leave. The next morning 
he appeared, prompt to the hour, and as soon as compli- 
ments were passed and he was seated, I asked his de- 
cision. He seemed reluctant to give it, and began a preface 
about the fearful consequences if the Brahmans should put 
him out of caste for selling us his house. Yery well, said 
I, j^ou don't accept my offer then, and began to bow a part- 
ing salam. He stopped me with the earnest exclamation, 
u Oh ! yes, yes, I will ! " and in fifteen minutes the writings 
were drawn, signed and delivered ! 

But the difficulty did not end here. His house was occu- 
pied by tenants. How should he get them out and make it 
over to the mission ? This was necessary in order to se- 
cure his money. He felt the difficulty. I proposed to go 
straight to Newase with him, and receive charge of the 
house. He declared that if seen there with me, the Brah- 
mans would know his purpose, and they would not let him 
escape alive. I proposed that Ramkrishnapunt, our most 
courageous native preacher, should go with him. This, he 
affirmed, would be still worse, for the people would mob 
them both. "How will you do, then? What's your own 
plan ?" said I. He proposed to go alone, remove his tenants, 
lock up his house, and bring me the key. I assented, and 
mounting his little pony, he started for Newase. 

My thoughts were ill at ease. Suppose he removes his 
tenants, locks up his house, and comes away ; won't every 
Brahman there watch his movements and divine his motive ? 
And shall I not find the house burned up, or torn down, 
with no witnesses of the deed ? Such musings made me 
anxious. In an hour or two I got ready my . own pony 
and little tent, and started out on a preaching- tour. I 
reached Newase the next morning a little before dawn. 
The unguarded gate was open, and I passed through the 
silent streets, unnoticed save by a growling dog. I knocked 
at the gate of the purchased house: — no reply. I knocked 



VALUE OF A SCHOOL AT NEWASE. 191 

again ; but could bear no sound. A third and louder knock, 
and a low, tremulous voice inquired, "Konaha?" — Who 
is there? I replied, and the heavy bolt slid back; slowly 
the gate turned on its hinges, and the owner of the house 
stood before me. He was agitated at seeing me, and his 
words were few. He gave me the key, mounted his pony, 
and lost as little time as possible in escaping to Poona. As 
soon as the day dawned, and the Brahmans learned what 
had transpired, their chagrin and indignation knew no 
bounds. They posted horsemen in different directions in 
pursuit of the flying Hindu, who narrowly escaped their 
vengeance by taking refuge with a party of police in the 
service of the British. 

But how did they regard the missionary? They soon 
turned their attention to me, and crowds pressed around 
my gate. I kindly beckoned them in, till they filled the 
open court and front verandah, and then closing the gate 
preached to them on the Golden Rule and Christ's Sermon on 
the Mount. After an hour thus spent I asked them to retire 
and give place to others. Their place was quickly filled 
with a new audience, and successive crowds kept me thus 
occupied till long after dark, leaving me no time, " not so 
much as to eat bread." 

At length I dismissed them all, bolted my gate, and after 
a slight repast, I spread my blanket on the open verandah, 
threw myself upon it, and was soon asleep. About eleven 
o'clock a rap at the gate waked me. I called aloud, " Kon 
aha ?" — Who is there ? There was no reply. The knock 
and the inquiry were repeated a second and third time, but 
no reply. I arose, and going to the gate repeated my in- 
quiry. A low voice whispered the name of Wamunrao, the 
only Hindu in the place who had shown himself friendly 
to us. I slipped the bolt and let him in. He was much 
agitated and spoke with difficulty. The amount of his mes- 
sage was, that the Brahmans were in council, had a large 
mob gathered, and were resolved to attack me, and. destroy 
the house, and my life was in peril unless I escaped at once. 

I confided in the friendship of the man. and the case 



192 MISSION SCHOOLS, 

seemed emergent. What should I do ? I thought of home 
and my dear family, and wished I were out of the danger.. 
I thought of the three long years of persevering efforts to 
establish that out-station, of the boastful threatenings of the 
Brahmans, and of the fact that if I fled now it would be a 
more disastrous defeat than ever. I beckoned to the friendly 
Hindu to retire, told him to take care of himself, that we 
missionaries trusted in the living God, and closing the gate 
after him, I returned to my blanket, committed myself again 
to God, and lay down. It was some time before I slept, but 
I did sleep — undisturbed till the morning sun shone brightly 
in my face. A confused vision of the night-scene recurred. 
Was it a dream ? That could not be. What then had be- 
come of the council of priests and the excited mob ? My 
first supposition was that it was all a farce, and the friendly 
Hindu had been bribed to frighten me away, that they might 
destroy the house in my absence. But the day revealed it. 
There was no farce — all was real. And the wicked purpose 
of the excited priests and mob was ripe for execution, when 
the night post brought dispatches from the British govern- 
ment impeaching several of the Brahman officials who were 
the ringleaders in exciting this mob ! Their opposition to 
us was entirely unknown to the British officers, but the Lord 
so ordered it that their other crimes of bribery and oppression 
should come to the notice of government, and these dis- 
patches should arrive just in time to degrade those ring- 
leaders, and cause confusion in the ranks of our enemies. 
Thus checked, they desisted from violence, and contented 
themselves with an appeal to the Governor of Bombay, pray 
ing that our mission station might be removed from their 
village. After such experience why should not a mission- 
ary trust in God forever ? I occupied the little house myself 
till our native preacher, Eamkrishnapunt, came out with his 
family, and was quietly established in it as his permanent 
home. 

It will be readily inferred that the people were in no mood 
to%e profited by our labors. Keen chagrin or sullen anger 
marked their countenances. The great question that pressed 



VALUE OF A SCHOOL AT NEWASE. 193 

upon us was, How now shall we conciliate the people and 
bring them under our Christian teaching and influence? 
The only agency in our power was a school. The native 
preacher commenced one in the open verandah of his house, 
and though the people were shy at first, yet gradually their 
fears subsided, the school furnished facilities for education 
which they valued, and beginning with two or three boys, 
it attracted one after another, and despite the indignation 
and threats of the priests, and the superstitious fears and pre- 
judices of the people, in a few months fifty or sixty youth 
were gathered in that school, and daily brought under 
Christian teaching. By means of this school the feelings of 
the people rapidly changed towards the mission ; the daily 
reports of the pupils told upon the minds and hearts of 
parents and friends, and thus adults were attracted, and 
came in increasing numbers ,to see a Brahman who had be- 
come a Christian, and to hear him talk and preach. 

The influence of this eA^ent was marked and quickly felt 
throughout the whole valley. The native Christians gained 
new heart, and the number of inquirers rapidly increased. 
After some eighteen months of labor in that valley, I ap- 
pointed a communion season in one of the neighboring vil- 
lages, and the memory of that delightful Sabbath will remain 
with me forever. The little band of native Christians gath- 
ered around us, and with them came some twenty inquirers 
asking for baptism. I took for my text those sweet pro- 
phetic words of our Saviour: "Fear not, little flock, for it is 
your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." 
Never before did their peculiar significance so affect my own 
heart, as when I addressed them to that little band of Hindu 
disciples, and baptized and welcomed eleven more to the or- 
dinances of our holy faith. They are still receiving a blessed 
fulfillment there, for that feeble band has increased in num- 
ber, till already some two hundred Christian families live in 
the different villages which adorn that beautiful valley. 

That out-station at Newase prospered so long as the 
school was allowed. What agency could have proved so 
serviceable at the origin of the station as that little school ? 



194 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

What could have been so effective in checking the angry 
excitement, correcting the false impressions of the people, 
and leading to a friendly connection with them ? What 
other agency could have enabled that native preacher to 
communicate so soon and so extensively a knowledge of the 
saving truths of Christianity ? Without this school he might 
have lived there for years and gained no friendly relations 
with the people, and no influence over them. 



Conversion of " Heathen Teachers."— Hurripunt and Narayan. 

Among the early converts of the Ahmednuggur mission 
were two brothers of the priestly caste, named ITurripunt 
and Narayan. They had been employed for years by the 
mission as heathen teachers. Hurripunt had been in the ser- 
vice of the mission some four years, first as a teacher and 
then as a superintendent of all the free schools, though still 
a heathen priest. 

On his first acquaintance with Hurripunt, Mr. Ballantine 
says : " The most favorable appearance presented in his 
charcter was his thirst for knowledge. He was constantly 
inquiring about subjects connected with natural philosophy 
and natural history, and seemed to love to know the truth, 
although so often opposed to the Hindu Shasters. With re- 
gard to geography and astronomy, he at once entered into the 
views presented in our books, and never hesitated one moment 
to acknowledge the absurdity of the Hindu notions respecting 
them.' 1 '' 

It is worthy of notice that the knowledge of true science 
in contrast with the false and absurd science of the Hindu 
Shasters, became the starting-point of Hurripunt's doubts in 
regard to Hinduism, and led eventually to his conversion. 
The same scientific knowledge was communicated by him to 
his brother, Narayan, and with like results. Narayan's first 
earnest question seems to have been, " What proof have you 
that the world is round, and that it has no such support as 
is mentioned in the Hindu Shasters ?" alluding to the old 
legend that the earth rests on the head of a huge elephant, 



CONVERSION OF HEATHEN TEACHERS. 195 

the elephant on a tortoise, and the tortoise on an endless 
snake. 

In reply to this question of Narayan, Mr. Ballantine says : 
" Hnrripunt directed him for proof to the snn, moon, and 
stars, all vast globes like the earth, which evidently had no 
such support ; and on that point his mind was soon satisfied. 
But he immediately began to make other inquiries on the 
subject of religion. On learning this account from Hurri- 
punt," Mr. B. continues, " I could not but be struck with 
the power and grace of God as exhibited in Narayan's state 
of mind. His attention had been fixed, and his inquiries directed 
to these subjects far -away from us, and from the usual means of 
grace." 

That is, he was a heathen teacher in a mission school some 
twelve miles from any missionary, and even the monthly 
examination of his school was taken by his brother, a heathen 
superintendent of these schools, and thus, in the good provi- 
dence of God, these humble schools became the direct means 
of bringing both these brothers to a knowledge and belief 
of the truth as it is in Jesus. Both became convinced, re- 
solved to abandon idol-worship and walk according to the 
truth. And then came the trial. * Parents and friends ap- 
pealed unceasingly to their strong filial and natural affections, 
and when this proved unavailing they called in the aid of 
the most influential priests, the heads of their caste. A 
crowd of Brahmans assembled before the brothers were up, 
% and stopping them as they came out, began to rebuke them 
for forsaking the worship of idols." They offered no argu- 
ments to prove that the Christian religion was false and the 
Hindu system true, but asked them whether they alone were 
wiser than all others, and told them : " When you see us be- 
ginning to worship the invisible God, then you may do so, 
but do not attempt to know more than your betters." They 
also required them to leave our service immediately, and 
promised them the same salary we were giving them. They 
also threatened to expose them to public disgrace unless they 
returned to their religion. But neither threats nor promises 
were of any avail. 



196 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

The Brahmans then appealed to the missionaries, urging 
them to dismiss Hurripunt and xsarayan from their service, 
and when this failed, they urged that they might be given 
up to them, and they would convince them in two or three 
days that it was wrong to forsake Hinduism. When this, 
too, failed, the indignation of the Brahmans increased. 
They threatened to take away Hurripunt by force. Night 
was approaching. Crowds of Brahmans filled the room, 
and pressed around the doors. Hurripunt saw his danger, 
stepped out a moment to speak with his mother, sprang up 
a narrow stone stairway to the upper story of the missiona- 
ry's dwelling, and thus eluded the grasp of the enemy. 

"From this time," says Mr. B., "he always remained 
the same. And the more we saw of him the more did we 
feel satisfied that he was indeed a child of God born again 
of the Spirit. He never seemed to doubt for one moment 
the propriety of the step which he had taken, nor wish to re- 
turn to his people and his idols." 

In the account of these conversions we have striking evi- 
dence of the influence of our schools in the estimation of the 
priests. Mr. B. goes on to say : 

" In consequence of these things the Brahmans held a 
great council, and decreed that none of their caste should 
engage in the service of the mission, or send children to the 
schools, or even visit the houses of the missionaries, on pain 
of expulsion from the order." 

Three of the schools were broken up by this decree and 
opposition, and the Brahman pundits and teachers left the 
service of the mission. But this wrath-of the priests defeat- 
ed its own object. So many pundits and teachers were 
obliged to leave good service by these arbitrary decrees that 
it soon produced a reaction. They complained of the de- 
crees as unwarrantable, and soon effected a division of sen- 
timent, and returned again to their employment. 

Hurripunt was baptized on the 14th of April, and Kara- 
yan on the 5th of May, 1839, and both are now native 
preachers in the Ahmednuggur mission, Hurripunt being 
an ordained pastor of one of the churches. In his own ac- 



CONVERSION OF HURRIPUXT AND NARAYAN. 197 

count of his conversion, speaking of the influence upon his 
mind of the Christian truth he was required to teach in his 
school, he says: 

" When placed over a school I taught the boys those things 
which they were required to learn from the school-books be- 
cause it was rny business to do so, and not because I thought 
the instruction entitled to regard. Some things, indeed, I re- 
garded as true, but others as ridiculous. Of the ten com- 
mandments the six last I thought excellent, but not so the four 
first. . . After some days I began to think that God was 
without form, as represented in the books which I was teach- 
ing, but I thought also that idols partook in some way or other 
of the divine nature. About that time a wealthy native, of 
most respectable character, residing near, was accustomed to 
come to the school-house, and would ask me to read to him 
some of the stories in the school-books. At different times I 
read to him the whole story of ' Henry and his Bearer,' and 
he assented to every thing contained in that book, declaring it 
was all correct, but that Hindu customs were so different, it 
was difficult for any one to forsake idolatry. I was not at that 
time prepared to go so far in giving assent to what I read." 

This statement brings to view one happy Avay in which 
these schools extend Christian truth, and which I fear is not 
sufficiently understood. Their utility in communicating 
Christian knowledge is by no means limited to the pupils 
and teachers. These repeat the truths they hear and read to 
their parents, neighbors, and friends, and these truths become 
the common property of the village, or a circle of villages, 
and go on extending themselves indefinitely. The influence 
of true science on Hurripunt's mind is thus attested by him- 
self: 

" Many days passed along without any change in my feelings. 
At length I began to learn something of the principles of geo- 
graphy and astronomy, and soon perceived evident proof that 
the Hindu writings contain many things false on these subjects. 
I soon understood that the sun, moon, and stars were no gods, 
and that all the stories related of them in our Shasters are 



198 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

mere fictions. At that time, leaving the company of pundits 
and puntojes, (teachers,) I determined to study more of mathe- 
matics and natural philosophy, in order to satisfy myself on 
this subject." 

These two brothers still live to bear witness to the blessed 
and saving results of their being employed in the mission as 
heathen teachers. 

Conversion of Badhabae. 

The wife of Narayan immediately deserted him on his be- 
coming a Christian, and took with her their little children. 
ISTarayan made many and persevering efforts to recover them 
but in vain. In Hindu law he was dead to her, and his 
civil rights were at that time all ignored. 

But Hurripunt was more successful in gradually enlight- 
ening the mind of his wife, Badhabae, before his own bap 
tism, and at length succeeded in leading her to a knowledge 
and belief of the truth. She was bitterly opposed at first, 
but the missionaries say: "New circumstances occurred 
which tended gradually to allay her irritated feelings. Not 
the least of these circumstances ivas her learning to read. At 
first the very thought of learning was abhorrent to her, but 
she found herself thrown in the midst, of a circle where most 
of those around her were capable of reading, and apparent- 
ly finding a constant source of pleasure in their various 
studies. After a short time she was induced to begin to 
learn, and to her praise it should be said, she was remarkably 
regular in her daily tasks. She soon succeeded in mas- 
tering what seemed to her at first great difficulties, and in 
the course of a few months she was able to read the Bible 
intelligently." 

"When she became .so far convinced of the truth as to re- 
move the heathen mark from her forehead, her heathen 
friends immediately gave vent to their anger and contempt. 
She bore it all meekly, and told them she had laid it aside 
as she intended to become a Christian. Some one asked her 
if she was forced to become a Christian, when she replied 



CONVERSION OF MAROOTI. 199 

that she had heard for herself, and believed that salvation 
was to be found only in Jesus Christ. Her gentle firmness 
soon silenced all opposition." 

Hurripunt, our oldest native pastor, and Eadhabae, his 
worthy Christian wife, with a large and interesting family 
of children growing up around them, three or four of whom 
are already members of the Church, are they not a living- 
rebuke to every murmur against the employment of heathen 
teachers in our mission schools ? 

Conversion of Marooti. 

The conversion of the heathen teachers already mentioned 
was soon followed by others, among whom, in 1842, was a 
young Hindu of the cultivator caste named Marooti. In 
narrating his case Mr. Ballantine says : " He was at first a 
scholar in one of our town schools. He afterwards entered the 
seminary, and continued there several months. . . Then 
he became the teacher of a school in a small village about 
eight miles from here. From the time of his going to take 
charge of that school he forsook idolatry, and he taught his 
boys also that idolatry zuas wrong. After a while he began to 
pray. Still he had no idea of coming out and being bap- 
tized. The difficulties in the way appeared too great. But 
as he learned more he saw that he must acknowledge Jesus 
before men as well as believe on him in his heart. It was 
some months after he began to pray before he determined 
to avow his belief in Jesus Christ before the world. A few 
weeks ago he came and expressed a desire to be admitted 
into the Church as soon as circumstances would allow. . . 
Yesterday, after being baptized, his parents came and ex- 
hibited the greatest grief. The poor mother threatened to 
kill herself." 

Marooti had not dared to speak openly in favor of Christ- 
ianity until he had actually embraced it and publicly re- 
nounced idolatry. Mr. B. says : " He feared for his safety 
in case he should do so. But now he fears no longer. He 
has come to live in Hurripunt's family, and is employed, 



200 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

as -he has been some weeks past, in teaching the girls' board- 
ing-school, where his influence is good." 

"We need not dwell on the moral of this case. The simple 
statements of the missionary bring clearly to view the hea- 
then school in which he was first a pupil, and his employment 
as a heathen teacher when the Spirit of God led him to a 
full understanding of the truth, and to avow his faith in 
. Jesus, . The following pages show that he was not only a 
heathen teacher, but also a heathen superintendent of all the 
free schools. He now ranks among the native preachers of 

the Ahmednuggur mission. 

♦ 

Conversion of Ramkrishnapunt. 

Another heathen teacher converted the same year was 
Eamkrishnapunt, a young Brahman priest. He had been 
brought up in the city of Poona, seventy miles from Ahmed- 
nuggur, and in early childhood was a playmate of the no- 
• torious Nana Sahib, the leader of the late Sepoy rebellion 
in India. Wishing to employ another heathen teacher, the 
missionaries at Ahmednuggur wrote to Major Candy, the 
Superindendent of the Poona Sanscrit College, who sent them 
Ramkrishnapunt. He came with decided and almost con- 
temptuous dislike of the missionaries, but consented to un- 
dertake the service for the sake of the small remuneration. 
Giving a brief account of him Mr. B. wrote : 

" When he first came he appeared very haughty in his man- 
ner, and none of us probably thought thai his mind would be 
easily brought under the influence of the truth. But God 
seeth not as man seeth. This young man was sent out to a 
large place about twelve miles distant to take charge of a 
school. He continued there several months, coming in once a 
month, according to our rule, to receive his pay and attend the 
Sabbath instructions. While there, away from us, his mind 
was excited to deep reflection on the things of religion. He 
was led to think of the folly of worshipping idols by conversa- 
tion with a Kubeerpunthee, a heretical Hindu, who teaches that 
all the incarnations and idols of Hinduism are false, and that 
God alone should be worshipped. Thus he came to see some 



CONVERSION OF RAMK1USHNAPUNT. 201 

of the errors of Hinduism, and was convinced that the system 
of Kubeer was much more correct than that which he had 
hitherto believed. He then began to compare it with what he 
read in the Christian school-books which he was daily teaching. 
He was astonished to find that Christianity agreed with the 
system of Kubeer, but he also found that it differed from it in 
some things, and on further reflection he thought Christianity 
better than either of the other two. 

"While in this state of mind Marooti, the other young 
man, who was superintendent of Mr. A.'s schools as well as 
teacher of his own school, came along to examine Ramkrishna- 
punt's school, and began to talk with him about the excellency 
of the Christian religion. Ramkrishnapunt agreed with him 
entirely, and said that if Marooti would become a Christian he 
would follow after soon. Still they both felt difficulties, and 
they had not courage to speak to any one of us about their 
own feelings. 

" But Ramkrishnapunt's difficulties soon vanished, and he 
came to Mr. Abbott and told him he wished' to become a 
Christian. He also opened his mind freely to Hurripunt, who 
was astonished to hear him speak as he did, and thought he 
could not be in earnest. Rut he soon learned the truth of the 
case. Ramkrishnapunt soon began to come to his house, to 
eat with him, and spend his evenings with him, sitting up 
often until eleven o'clock reading the Scriptures together, and 
talking about the things of religion. A short time before Ma- 
rooti decided to become a Christian openly he met Ramkrish- 
napunt, and asked him what his feelings were now. Ram- 
krishnapunt said that all his difficulties had vanished, that he 
cared not now whether Marooti came with him or not, so far 
as himself was concerned, that he was determined to be a 
Christian. He was indeed desirous to obtain his wife before 
being baptized, as he had no hope of getting her afterwards, 
and he accordingly went to Poona two or three months ago 
for this object. Rut his friends there, learning his intention to 
become a Christian, confined him, and would not even let him 
return to Ahmednuggur." 

Ramkrishnapunt had been married by his parents to a 
little girl much younger than himself, and he had never 
' 9* 



202 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

seen her since. He failed of obtaining her on this occasion, 
and his wish to do so was doubtless more for her sake than 
his own, as he knew that, child as she was, she would be 
condemned to perpetual widowhood on his becoming a 
Christian, with all the attendant servility and disgrace 
which make the Hindu widow an object of much commis- 
eration. But his efforts to obtain her only resulted in his 
own confinement, and it was not till he found an opportuni- 
ty to communicate with the English gentleman who first 
recommended him to the mission, that he was able to get 
released. The case was then brought at once to the notice 
of a magistrate, Kamkrishnapunt released, and a government 
soldier sent to see him safe from harm on his way to Ah- 
mednuggur. 

On reaching the mission again, he came out openly as a 
Christian and received baptism, counting all things else as 
worthless, that he might win Christ and be found in him. 
Persecutions -came upon him. When his parents and friends 
found that they could not reclaim him to Hinduism, they 
performed his funeral ceremonies and called him dead, and 
his civil rights were ignored by law. But he had counted 
the cost, and has remained steadfast ever since. Having 
failed to obtain his infant wife, his heathen marriage was set 
aside, and Kamkore, the interesting girl who would have 
none but a Christian husband, and who, with her mother, 
had been the first-fruits of the girls' boarding-school, subse- 
quently became his wife. They have several interesting 
children, and a happy, useful family they are, he being the 
most able native pastor we have in Western India, and she 
in every respect a help-meet for her husband. 

The spirit of this native pastor may be inferred from the 
following brief extract from one of his letters. After giving 
me a lengthy and graphic account of the massacre of native 
Christians, and the horrors of the mutiny, while in the 
height of its power and progress, he adds : 

" Some of the native soldiers in this presidency, too, are 
likely to mutiny. We thank God for his mercy in keeping us 
hitherto in quiet and safety, while our brethren at the north 



CONVERSION OF RAMCH UNDER. 203 

are suffering such horrible persecutions. Yet we do not know 
what will take place in a few days. Perhaps we also may be 
called to share the same fate, and we are trying to be prepared 
for it, if so be the will of our Father in heaven — firmly believ- 
ing that if all of its are sacrificed, it will all result in good to 
us and to the Church of God. If such is his will, may we be 
prepared to stand firm in faith, and testify to his Gospel in our 
death as well as in life." 

Let those who are troubled with any apprehensions about 
the propriety of such mission schools, and of employing 
heathen teachers, trace again the history of this nappy 
family, from the time that the heathen mother took this 
little girl by the hand to prosecute their lone wanderings 
back to their distant village, in the dense darkness of 
heathenism, and her steps were arrested by hearing of the 
mission school for little girls. Let them trace the provi- 
dence of God in the case of the husband — a haughty, self- 
conceited Brahman, placed in charge of a school twelve 
miles from the missionaries, and only seeing them once a 
month, when he visited Ahmednuggur — he a heathen teacher, 
and the monthly examination of his school even being taken 
by a heathen superintendent. If the employment of heathen 
teachers is ever of doubtful policy, what more hopeless cir- 
cumstances can be adduced in the whole history of missions ? 
And yet it pleased God to make this agency the means of 
bringing both teacher and superintendent to a knowledge 
and belief of the truth — resulting in case of this haughty 
young priest, in making him one of the brightest lights and 
most effective laborers among all the native converts con- 
nected with the missions of the American Board in Western 
India. His influence was promptly and signally manifest in 
the conversion of his own brother, Vishnupunt, the following 
year. 

Conversion of Ramchunder. 

Next followed the conversion of Ramchunder, another 
heathen teacher in the service of the mission at Seroor. In 
giving some account of him, the missionary, Mr. French, 



204 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

rejoices that the same class of teachers, for whose conversion 
the divine blessing had been so signally bestowed at the 
other stations, was affected in like manner by the Christian 
truth they were required to teach in his schools. Mr. F. 
writes : 

" On the first Sabbath in July [1843] I was permitted to re- 
ceive into the visible church of Christy the first convert from 
heathenism at this station. His name is Ramchunder. He 
belongs to the Brahman caste, and is about forty years of age. 
On my occupying this station, I took his school under my care, 
and he has ever since remained in my employment. 

" From his first connection with the mission, he has regularly 
attended our public services on the Sabbath, and daily taught 
our Christian books in his school. The influence of the truth 
thus brought before his mind had doubtless an important bear- 
ing, though his inquiries were not awakened till about four 
months since. From that time light began to dawn upon his 
dark mind ; he lost all confidence in Hinduism, threw away the 
little pebble he had formerly worshipped, and began to seek in 
earnest for a better way. He soon became convinced that 
Christianity was the only true religion, and Jesus Christ the 
only Saviour of sinners. As his inquiries advanced his difficul- 
ties disappeared, his mind became settled, and he entered upon 
the practice of Christian duties, at first with much diffidence, 
but soon with great delight. He was baptized at the chapel 
on Sabbath morning, in the presence of more people than 
could get into the house, among whom were some of the prin- 
cipal men of the place." 

In the afternoon his three children were baptized, and the 
missionary and native converts gathered around the table 
of the Lord. " It was a precious season," says Mr. F. ; " in 
view of what our eyes have beheld, we feel ourselves called 
upon to rejoice in the Lord, who has remembered us in our 
feebleness, and visited us with his mercy." 

Conversion of Dajeeba, Shiveram, and other Heathen Teachers. 

In gathering up the records of heathen teachers con- 
verted in this mission, they crowd upon us too numerous for 



CONVERSION OF HKATHKN TEACHERS. 205 

detail. One missionary writes : " The teacher of tlie boys' 
boarding-school is anxious to be baptized, and appears re- 
markably well." 

Another reports two heathen teachers baptized and admit- 
ted to the Church, one of them a female employed in the 
girls' boarding-school. 

Siddu was baptized and received to church-fellowship at 
Seroor, while employed as a teacher at an out-station, though 
he had been educated in the boarding-schools. He is now a 
native preacher. 

Dajeeba, who has been for many years a native assistant, 
was long employed as a heathen teacher, and thus came to 
know and believe the truth. 

Shiveram was first a pupil, and then the heathen teacher 
whose pupils threw away the idols, and subsequently pulled 
down a heathen temple. His meek bearing and persistent 
affection under the cruel treatment and persecution of his 
father, a bigoted old priest, finally softened the old man's 
heart, and led him to feel that the Gospel, which had 
wrought such a wonderful change in his son, must have ele- 
ments different from Hinduism. When the old priest first 
came to me, it was to tell me this conviction, and how Shiv- 
eram had meekly borne his abuse for five long years ; and 
he begged to know what there was in the Christian religion 
which gave it such power. He followed me some six 
months, much of the time travelling with me from village 
to village, as I went on preaching- tours — always present at 
my preaching services, and morning and evening prayers ; 
and I shall not soon forget the occasion, after a season of 
prayer with him, when, bursting into tears, he avowed his 
faith in the crucified Jesus, and pulling his priestly badge 
from his neck, begged me to keep it as a memento, alike of 
his heathen ignorance and superstition, and of the blessed 
power of the Gospel of Christ. The dear old priest was 
baptized, and lived and died a Christian. I still keep his 
old brass badge, and many dear children in our Sabbath- 
schools will remember it. He, I doubt not, has found a 
better badge, even the robe of Christ's righteousness, pure 
and white, 



206 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Which, case marks most signally the blessing of God on 
our schools — that of this heathen teacher, or of his old father, 
the priest ? Oh ! that dear friends in Christian lands could 
understand how Heaven's own seal is stamped on these 
schools! Well and truthfully have our brethren of the 
Ahmednuggur mission testified, in their Annual Eeport of 
1855 : " Our native pastoes and most efficient labor- 
ers WERE ORIGINALLY HEATHEN SCHOOL-TEACHERS, AND 
IN THIS WAY WERE BROUGHT UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF 
TRUTH, AND CONVERTED." 

Schools opposed by the Heathen. 

The earnest opposition of the natives to our schools was 
briefly brought to view in the history of the Bombay mis- 
sion. The same opposition appears at every stage of pro- 
gress in the Ahmednuggur mission. When the two Brah- 
man teachers were baptized in 1839, several schools were 
broken up by this opposition. 

In 1843 the priests threatened to put Mr. French's teach- 
ers out of caste, if they did not leave his service, and suc- 
ceeded in breaking up three or four of his schools. Mr. F. 
says : " The great charge brought against them, was that of 
teaching the rising generation those books which contained 
principles at variance with their own religion. I do not 
wonder that the advocates of Hinduism become alarmed, in 
view of the tendency of our schools. 1 ' 1 

Begretting the loss of these schools, and the want of funds 
to establish more, Mr. F. writes : " Nearly 200 youth are 
thrown beyond the reach of Christian instruction. And not 
only this, the access which these schools gave us to the peo- 
ple generally of those villages, is closed. The suspension 
of these schools materially affects my operations, and is an 
event much to be regretted." 

When Bamkore and her three associates in the girls' 
boarding-school were baptized, it was the signal for a vigor- 
ous assault on the schools. Many of the older pupils were 
removed, and most of the other schools also suffered from 
this opposition. 



CONVERTS FROM THE SEMINARY. 207 

_ Again we read, in the report of the Board : " From the 
girls' boarding-school two pupils, in respect to whom our 
brethren have indulged the hope that they would, at no dis- 
tant day, profess Christ before men, were removed by their 
parents to prevent their becoming Christians. One of them 
subsequently returned, begging that she might be allowed 
to remain with the missionaries, and also asking for baptism. 
Soon, however, her parents came in pursuit of her, and, by 
many fair promises, they succeeded in inducing her to 
accompany them. Having once got her in their power, 
they were careful not to allow her to return. In a few days 
we learned that they had beaten her severely, on her return- 
ing home, and had immediately sent her to a village fifty or 
sixty miles distant. We hope, however, that even°there the 
poor girl will be enabled to put her trust in the Saviour." 
_ When Rama and Sudu, pupils of the seminary, were bap- 
tized, the Hindus took alarm, and many of the good-caste 
scholars were withdrawn from that and the other schools- 
" Some young Brahmans were very reluctant to give up the 
privileges they enjoyed in the school, but they found them- 
selves unable to resist the efforts made to remove them." 
The missionaries comfort themselves with the thought: 
" They have learned enough, perhaps, to make them wise 
unto salvation." 

Through all the history of our missions, no department 
of our labors has elicited so much opposition from the 
heathen as our schools. Why is this ? The enemy never 
take trouble to destroy blank cartridge, or spike guns that 
are already useless. 

Converts from the Seminary. 

Some account has already been given of the mission 
seminary at Ahmednuggur — the anxious desire of the 
home officers to establish it, the votes they passed, and the 
care with which they fostered it through the first ten years 
of its existence, without one convert being gathered in from 
its pupils. 

The care of this seminary was the first mission work put 



208 mission schools. 

upon me by my brethren — the day after I reached Ahmed- 
nuggur in 1846. I entered upon it with deep interest, but 
interest which constantly increased during all the years of 
my connection with the school. The religious interest in 
the seminary was marked, and we were soon permitted to 
see joyful results of our labors in it. 

Conversion of Rama Bhore. 

Soon after taking charge of the seminary, I became much 
interested in a young lad of about 16 years, by the name 
of Eama. He was foremost among the pupils in showing 
his disregard of idolatry. I soon selected him as the bene- 
ficiary of the " M alone Juvenile Missionary Society" 
of little girls, who had pledged me $20 a year, to educate a 
heathen boy. And they fulfilled their promise every year 
I was in India, some years doubling, and even trebling the 
amount. 

Eama rapidly developed a thorough knowledge and con- 
viction of the truth. His views of the just desert of sin 
and the way of salvation by Christ were specially clear and 
satisfactory, and he soon resolved to take his stand on the 
side of Christ. He was baptized Dec. 13th, 1846, and be- 
longing to a family of Patils, or head men in his village, his 
baptism caused much excitement. His brothers and widow- 
ed mother came in great haste, and tried their utmost to 
persuade him to return with them. He declined, knowing 
they would force him to acts of idolatry or keep him in 
confinement. His poor mother used many entreaties, be- 
seeching him not to destroy himself, and bring perpetual 
disgrace on his family. In the anguish of her feelings, she 
beat her head upon the ground, and threatened to destroy 
herself. It was touching to witness the tenderness with 
which Rama begged her to refrain from weeping, though 
his own face was bathed in tears, and affirming his desire to 
secure the salvation of his own soul, urged her too, to come 
with him and be a Christian. 

The scene soon brought together a large and excited mob, 
who seemed resolved to take Rama away from our protec- 



CONVERSION OF RAMA. 209 

tion by force. We reported the danger to the British ma- 
gistrate, who came at once with a party of police, and took 
Rama to his court. None of the missionaries were permit- 
ted to accompany him, but some of our native converts 
followed, and reported to us the public confession of this 
young disciple, and the noble firmness with which he stood 
up for Jesus in that heathen court. No questions of the 
magistrate confused him, no appeal to his affection for his 
mother even induced him to waver in his purpose; and 
being of age (16 years) by Hindu law, there was but one 
decision possible. He was restored to the mission, and the 
mob dispersed. 

For years Rama remained under my immediate direction, 
as a teacher and native assistant, and never have I known a 
more industrious, faithful, conscientious young Christian, in 
any land. It was his fixed purpose, during all those years, 
to become a native preacher, and aid us in our labors ; but 
when the Secretary and Committee abolished our seminary, 
Rama felt, with others, that he must have a more liberal 
education ; and leaving our mission, he entered the Institu- 
tion of our Scotch Free Church brethren in Bombay. 



The second convert from the pupils of this seminary was 
Suddu, an interesting young man, originally of the Mahar 
caste, and still laboring as a native preacher in "Western 
India. Of these two converts the missionaries wrote in 
their report : " These were the first-fruits of our labors in 
the seminary in the way of conversion, but we hope they 
will not be the last." 

This hope has been realized. "Within six months from 
the date of these baptisms, we find one of the missionaries 
writing : " Some of the more promising scholars in the 
seminary are evidently in an inquiring state of mind. 
Two or three weeks ago, a Brahman lad came to me and 
expressed his full conviction of the truth of Christianity, 
and that Jesus Christ is the only Saviour. He wished to 
be a Christian, and hoped Jesus would convert his mind. 
But he has met with the greatest opposition." 



210 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Amrooti and his Mother. 

One of the early converts of the seminary was Amrooti, 
a young Hindu, like Eama, of the cultivator caste, and 
whose case, like that of Eamkore, illustrates the influence 
of the schools in gathering adult inquirers and converts. 
Amrooti's mother came to live near her son, and prepare 
his daily food, and in this way she, too, came to know and 
believe the Gospel, and was baptized and received to the 
Church, some time before her son was. 

Conversion of Daood, (David.) 

This young man was both a student and teacher in the 
seminary — hearing the lessons of some classes and reciting 
himself in others. Some account of him at the time of his 
conversion, is as follows : 

a One of the teachers in the seminary, whom we have re- 
garded as one of the most promising young men about us, 
came to me the other day saying that he had determined to 
forsake his wicked ways and be a Christian. He is eigh- 
teen or twenty years of age, and a Mussulman by birth. 
From a pretty free conversation closed with prayer in 
which he took part, he really appeared like a renewed man. 
He expressed a determination, after some delay, to ask for 
baptism. The Lord only knows whether he will endure to 
the end." " Other members of the seminary are evidently 
in an interesting state of mind. Oh ! that we could have a 
powerful effusion of the Spirit in this school ! Will not 
our friends remember us in their prayers ?" 

Daood was baptized in the autumn of 1847, and the hearts 
of all in the mission rejoiced at this event. Some account 
of him may be found in the Missionary Herald for Decem- 
ber, 1847. He was a young man of much ability and pro- 
mise, and we hoped much from his assistance in our work. 
But Christians will know better how to sympathize with 
their brethren toiling in heathen lands — tremblingly hoping 
and praying and striving to encourage such converts — when 
they learn that the persecution and trials which the friends 



VYENKUTRAO. 211 

of this young man brought upon him, were so severe, that 
he very soon renounced his faith in Christ, and went back 
to the false prophet. But his conscience had become too 
much enlightened to give him peace. Sad and sorrowful 
were the years he passed in this unhappy state ; and at 
length, like Peter, he wept bitterly over his sin, and re- 
turned to his Saviour. It is a remarkable circumstance 
that during the period of his apostasy, the black leprosy 
developed itself in his system, and marked him for its cer- 
tain victim. It would probably be impossible to convince 
the native converts who knew him, that this was not a 
direct judgment of God upon him for denying Christ. It 
was with many tears that he eventually sought and obtained 
restoration to the privileges of the Church, and hearty and 
unreserved seemed the subsequent consecration of himself 
to Christ and his service. His last years were full of use- 
fulness. His efforts were untiring to make known Christ, 
and persuade his countrymen to believe in him. He died 
about a }^ear since, full of hope and faith, "joyfully looking 
to Jesus." 

Vyenkutrao. 

Soon after I took charge of the seminary, in 1846, I no- 
ticed one morning, a new pupil. His dress marked him as 
a Brahman priest, and I soon found that he had come from 
the city of Mominabad, ninety miles distant in another 
province. He had heard of our seminary, and had come 
with a wish to learn English and the sciences. He was 
welcomed to the school. His progress was rapid, and in a 
few months his fixed attention, and an occasional tear, has- 
tily brushed away, revealed the effect of Christian truth on 
his heart. 

But the wily Brahmans discovered his state of mind as 
quickly as I did, and took measures to apprize his distant 
parents and friends. They came at once, and with mingled 
affection and authority succeeded in removing him from our 
influence. "We had watched him with increasing interest, 
hoped and prayed that he might soon become a " chosen 



212 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

vessel," and our disappointment now was keen. But we 
could not prevent if, and he returned with his friends, to 
Mominabad. 

After some months, however, much to our joy, he ap- 
peared again. His love for study and attachment to the 
seminary, brought him back. Some love and conviction of 
the truth, may, even then, have influenced him. Be this 
as it may, his convictions rapidly revived, and he develop- 
ed an impressibility to truth and a tenderness of conscience 
very rare among the Brahmans of India. Again our hopes 
revived, but again his friends brought their arts and influ- 
ence to bear upon him, and removed him from the school. 

He went and came several times, his convictions deepen- 
ing, and the evidence of a work of grace in his heart, be- 
coming more unmistakable. The duty of confessing Christ 
before men pressed heavily on his heart, and the great hin- 
drance was his affection for his friends. It was a trial to 
lose caste and inheritance, and subject himself to the scorn 
of all who knew him. But the severest trial was to give 
up his mother, and a young wife, between whom and him- 
self there was rare mutual affection. His anxiety to en- 
lighten her mind and win her to Christ was intense. But 
every effort to do this alarmed her fears, when she would 
leave him and return to her friends. During this period 
my sympathies were so moved that I seldom urged upon 
him the duty of publicly professing Christ, but as he was 
almost daily in my room to read the Bible and pray with 
me, I would sometimes turn to Matt. 10 : 32-39. At such 
times his troubled look and gushing tears marked the strag- 
gle within, and his feelings would find utterance in the 
words: " Yes, I must, I must give up all for Christ." 

The struggle was long and severe, but at length grace tri- 
umphed. Giving an account of his baptism at the time, the 
missionary says : "He was baptized last Sabbath, and has 
thus far witnessed a good confession. A crowd of violent 
Brahmans assailed him immediately after the morning ser- 
vice, and pressed him so hard that he took refuge in our 
house. They again interrupted our communion-service in 



VYENKUTRAO. 213 

the afternoon, and we were obliged to call in assistance from 
the magistrate to keep them quiet." 

" A severer trial is still pending for this young disciple. 
His parents will soon hear of his apostasy from Hinduism, 
and will hasten, with mingled rage and affection, to tear 
him from us. They can not restore him to caste ; but hav- 
ing him once in their power, they can doom him to a life of 
disgrace and sorrow, and prevent any active efforts by him 
in the cause of Christ. Pray for him that he may have 
grace to endure to the end, and may be delivered from the 
wiles of the adversary." 

The fears which were foreshadowed in this paragraph 
were soon and painfully realized. Vyenkutrao's parents and 
friends came in great haste, and contrary to the usual policy 
in such cases, instead of coming directly to us and gathering 
an excited mob, which would have served to alarm him and 
put him on his guard, at the same time enabling us to repel 
them by aid of the civil magistrates, they encamped at a 
distance in the city and commenced their weeping and la- 
mentations, sending to their son the most touching entreat- 
ies to come and see them " once more. 11 

Vyenkutrao was much agitated, bursting into tears with 
an exhibition of strong filial affection. His natural feel- 
ings impelled him strongly to go, but after a season of con- 
versation and prayer he seemed strengthened, and resolved 
to avoid the peril. At length his feelings were so wrought 
upon that with a party of native Christians and some gov- 
ernment peons, he went and had an interview with his 
friends. There was much weeping on both sides, and earn- 
est entreaties were made by the parents and brothers that 
he would go back with them to Mominabad. After two or 
three anxious hours the party returned and we blessed God 
for the deliverance. 

But soon all our anxieties were again painfully aroused. 
In the evening his parents sent pressing entreaties for him 
to come and see them "once more." Yyenkutrao wept 
and begged to be allowed to go ; but after another season 
of prayer he seemed strengthened and resolute to endure 



214 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

the trial and refuse another interview. But in the morn- 
ing his feelings again overcame him. New messages came 
from his mother, representing that she was sick nigh unto 
death, and appealing to his affection in most touching terms. 
Taking two or three Christian friends with him, he hastened 
to his mother. The native converts were not allowed to t 
enter the house with him, and the Hindus, who kept be- 
tween them and the door, soon increased to hundreds. 
The converts were alarmed for Vyenkutrao's safety, and 
ran back to inform me. I hastened to the magistrate and 
begged his interference. It was difficult to persuade him 
that the case demanded his attention, but after some delay, 
leisurely calling two peons, he bade them go to the locality 
indicated and see what was transpiring. 

I waited their return with anxiety which I could not re- 
press. They came at length, and very coolly reported that 
the party had taken their horses, and providing one for 
young Vyenkutrao, they hastily departed taking him with 
them. This roused the magistrate a little, and calling a 
party of police he bade them pursue the fugitives and bring 
them all back. They started off with much apparent haste 
and eagerness to execute their orders, but they were Hin- 
dus, and would feel far more sympathy with Vyenkutrao's 
friends than with him or us. 

I will not attempt to describe the intense anxiety and the 
many prayers with which our hearts followed that dear 
young man. The party of police returned the next day, re- 
porting that they had pursued with all possible haste, but 
had been unable to overtake the fugitives till they passed 
beyond British rule into the territories of a native prince, 
and they did not feel at liberty to pursue further. 

Our hearts sank within us. We thought of the danger, 
lest, under the pressure of trials and persecutions, he should 
renounce his faith in Christ and return to the idols ; or, if 
he should remain firm, there were the long years of con- 
finement and persecution till his spirit should be broken 
and his usefulness, if not his life, be destroyed. In pub- 
lishing an account of this convert at the time, the editor of 



VYEXKUTRAO. 2 1 5 

the Missionary Herald well remarked: "A perusal of the 
extracts which follow, will enable the friends of missions to 
■understand and appreciate the trials through which many 
are obliged to pass in heathen lands, on avowing themselves 
the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. "Not is this all. 
Some will possess a better idea, after reading this communi- 
cation, of the disappointments and griefs to which mission- 
aries are occasionally subjected." 

For three long months we could get no tidings of Yyen- 
kutrao. But the Lord took care of him. He was placed 
in close confinement by his friends and subjected to much 
persecution. Idols were placed in his presence and daily 
efforts made to induce him to deny Christ and return to the 
faith of his fathers. But young Yyenkutrao remained firm 
to his faith, trusting in Grod. At length, under his hard 
fare and close confinement, his health so gave way that the 
sympathies of his mother were moved in his behalf, and he 
was allowed to walk out a few minutes each day in the open 
air, with a faithful Hindu at his side to keep constant watch 
of him. On one of these walks he met an Indo-Briton, and 
exchanged a few words in English which his Hindu attend- 
ant could not understand. The next day, on his usual walk, 
he went to the place assigned, threw off his Brahman dress 
and put on a suit of English furnished by the Indo-Briton, 
mounted his horse, and finding other horses posted for him 
on the road, he escaped as a bird from the snare of the 
fowler. His Hindu attendant ran to inform his parents and 
friends, and preparing their horses they pursued with all 
possible haste ; but the few minutes' start and fresh horses 
on the way gave Yyenkutrao the advantage, and he reached 
us in safety. Let friends imagine, if they can, the joy of 
our hearts when this dear convert knocked at our gate at 
midnight, and sought our protection from his pursuers. 
The praying band gathered in the house of Mary could 
scarcely have been more affected when Peter knocked at 
their gate. (Acts 12 : 13.) 

Yyenkutrao has proved a firm, earnest, and devoted 
Christian. So lono- as he remained in our mission he mani- 



216 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

fested a fixed purpose to "become a preacher of the Gospel 
to his countrymen. When our mission seminary was inter- 
dicted and broken up, his earnest desire for education de- 
tached him from us. He left us with tears and much re- 
gret, and joined the institution of the Scotch Free Church 
mission in Bombay. 

Vyenkutrao was the fifth interesting convert from this 
favored seminary. This school brought him to us, and 
when it was broken up he left us. My space will not allow 
me to narrate the conversions of Uma Thorat, Nama Christi, 
Dhondoo Sonar, Tubba Barsa and Guanoo Powar — five 
more of its pupils who were converted and baptized during 
my, connection with it — or those of eight or a dozen more 
of my dear pupils in that school, who have since been bap- 
tized and received to the church, either in Ahmednuggur or 
elsewhere. 

Guanoo Powar, the last mentioned, was a j 7 oung man of 
much promise, and the second beneficiary of the "M alone 
Juvenile Mission aky Society." If the education and 
conversion of this one young Hindu were all the good the 
society had ever accomplished, it would be enough to make 
glad the hearts of the dear youth and children of that so- 
ciety forever. 

Mr. M., reporting his admission to the Church at the time, 
wrote : " This lad is much loved by us all. No one could 
say any evil thing of him. The church in Malone, N. Y., 
has given him the name of their former pastor, and prayed 
for him. We hope he may some day proclaim to this peo- 
ple the story of the cross." 

It was not the church, but this " Malone Juvenile Mis- 
sion aey Society" which educated young Guanoo, and 
gave him the name of their venerated and much loved pas- 
tor, Rev. Ashbel Pakmelee, D.D., who for fifty -three 
years has stood on the watch-towers of Zion in Northern 
New- York, preaching Christ with untiring fidelity and zeal, 
and with a strength of devotion and love which led him to 
exclaim, in a recent discourse before his Synod, that he 
would gladly accept a commission from his divine Master 



RELIGIOUS INTEREST IN SEMINARY. 217 

to continue preaching till the day of judgment! May a 
portion of his spirit rest on his Hindu namesake ! Doubt- 
less the church also prayed for this lad, and the Lord heard 
and answered. Let not such societies lose their confidence 
or waver in their support of schools and beneficiaries in 
heathen lands. The funds they contribute and the prayers 
they offer for such schools and heathen youth, have been 
owned of God. These schools have shared in special bless- 
ings and yielded precious fruit to the praise of his glory 
and grace. Truly thankful shall we be if the missionary 
ship, or any other object which can be presented for the 
gifts of the young, ever furnishes a tithe of the blessed re- 
sults which have already accrued from mission schools. 
Young " Ashbel Parmelee " is now a preacher of the Grospel 
to his countrymen. 

Will the reader recall the history of this seminary ? Bear 
in mind that it was sustained ten years without one convert, 
and at two or three times the annual expense it was incur- 
ring when abolished ; and that the tone of religious interest 
and feeling was constantly and rapidly increasing. In 1849 
we find notices of this seminary in the Missionary Herald, 
as follows: "The seminary for boys in Ahmednuggur con- 
tains fifty-four pupils, and is under the care of Mr. Wilder. 
. . . It is in a very interesting state at the present time. 
Five of the pupils have expressed much solicitude to Mr. 
W. respecting their spiritual condition; and three have 
professed to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, one of them 
having privately broken caste." 

In December, 1849, the editor of the Herald thus introduces 
a letter describing the increasing interest in this seminary. 

" The following extract from a letter of Mr. Wilder will be 
read with interest. It will awaken gratitude, and should call 
forth fervent prayer." 

The letter is as follows : 

" Just at present we have much to encourage us from the 

increasing religious interest in the seminary. A little band of 

five or six Christian youth, most of them connected with the 

seminary, have long been accustomed to meet me in my study 

10 



218 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

one evening in a week, to pray for the youth connected Avith 
our schools. These meetings have gradually increased in in- 
terest, and the earnest prayers of some show true anxiety for 
the salvation of souls ; and though we rejoice with trembling, 
yet we have the joy of feeling that some mercy-drops are de- 
scending. 

" Some weeks ago, one young man in the seminary came, 
voluntarily, to converse about his soul. He repeated his visits, 
evincing a most gratifying earnestness, and soon there came 
another and another, and the number has now increased to 
five. Three of them profess true repentance and faith in 
Christ, and ask to be received into the Church. One has pri- 
vately broken caste, and thus given proof of his firm purpose 
to renounce heathenism. 

" The state of feeling in the seminary is so marked as to be 
quite observable to all who are praying for this object. One 
of our native preachers yesterday remarked that he thought 
this must be what we meant by a revival. Had we a different 
state of society we might hope, w T ith the blessing of God, soon 
to see the whole school share in it, manifesting a deep and gen- 
eral interest for the salvation of their souls. As it is, we feel 
the most trembling solicitude. Of the five who come to me 
so frequently, no two are aware of each other's feelings. They 
come singly, and late at night, each supposing himself alone in 
his anxiety about his soul. Christians in America might sup- 
pose this to result from improper fear, and want of courage to 
confess Christ before men. But they will think differently 
w r hen they know that the mere suspicion of these young men's 
state of feeling would lead their parents to remove them forci- 
bly from our school and influence, and do all in their power to 
prevent them from ever professing Christ. It is this fact which 
dictates caution. "Were the feelings and purposes of these 
youth known beyond the gates of our compounds, a sad ex- 
citement would result. The whole city would be in an up- 
roar. The consequences would be fatal to our hopes in regard 
to others, if not, indeed, in regard to those already anxious ; 
and many interesting youth would be removed forever from 
the reach of our influence. This state of things, rightly viewed, 
will give you a correct impression of the painful caution and 
extreme anxiety, to which we are constantly subjected in all 
our direct labors for the salvation of souls. (It should be un- 



RELIGIOUS INTEREST IN SEMINARY. 219 

derstood that these remarks refer to the conversion of those of 
good caste. When Mahars are converted, there is no excitement. 
Few notice or care about it.) We have now quite a number 
of promising and well-educated youth in our seminary, whose 
consciences are enlightened and convinced of the truth, and 
who seem balancing the momentous question, hesitating wheth- 
er they will yield to conscience, and the claims of God's word, 
or go back to the darkness of idolatry, or choose the third al- 
ternative and become absolute infidels. This third class is daily 
increasing in India, and we must expect it as an unavoidable 
result of an increase of knowledge, unsanctified and unaccom- 
panied by that truth which alone can make wise unto salva- 
tion. Could we speak to your circles of praying Christians, 
we would say : Pray, pray earnestly that the Spirit of God 
may come and consecrate this talent, and save these precious 
souls. We have great hope that there is mercy in store for 
us, and that the faithful labors of so many years hi this semi- 
nary are not to be without precious fruit." 

And again at a later date : 

" I wrote you in July, giving some little account of the re- 
ligious interest in the seminary. The correctness of what I 
then stated, in regard to the extreme anxiety we are com- 
pelled to feel, about all good-caste youth Avho begin to mani- 
fest concern for their souls, has since been painfully verified. 
During our recent meeting, it was thought advisable to bap- 
tize one of the young men to whom I then alluded. His case 
is mentioned in the minutes of our meeting. He is a Koonbe 
of respectable talents, and we hope that God will make him 
greatly useful to his countrymen. His father is connected 
with the army, and all his friends, just now, are several hun- 
dred miles distant. On this account, we had reason to expect 
less excitement at his baptism, and besides, he was received 
into the Church in the middle of a vacation in the seminary 
From both circumstances combined, we hoped the event might 
pass without causing so much alarm as usual, to the seminary 
scholars. But such events do not take place without being 
known, and exciting commotion, among these hosts of idola- 
ters. The young men themselves are not alarmed ; but their 
parents are, and wish to remove them, at once and entirely, 



220 MISSION SCHOOLS, 

from our influence. The scholars are unwilling to leave us, 
and resort to entreaty, and sometimes deceive their parents, 
and continue to come under false pretenses. In the present 
case all have returned with the exception of three ; but the 
only condition of their doing so, is that they be allowed to 
come as day-scholars. Not one remains in the compound. The 
parents of some are sadly alarmed ; but we are much gratified 
to see the scholars appreciate their privileges and anxious to 
improve them. The religious interest among them increased 
steadily to the close of the term ; and though they are now 
more reserved and cautious, yet I have good evidence that 
four or five still retain their convictions, and I trust they will, 
ere long, gain courage to give up all for Christ." 

And well does the editor of the Herald add : 

" Certainly prayer should be offered by Christians, not only 
for these young men, but for the missionary, who, at a time so 
critical, is their instructor." 

Now, in view of the precious converts gathered in during 
the few last years of this seminary, and this increasing in- 
terest in it, was there not abundant reason to regard and 
cherish this institution with increasing favor ? Commenced, 
as it was, at the express desire of the Secretary and Pru- 
dential Committee, though with the warm approval and 
cooperation of the missionaries, and commended through all 
its years of barrenness, how could it be otherwise than that 
all hearts should rejoice in the rich clusters of fruit it began 
to bear, and that they should foster it with increasing care ? 

Change of Policy, disparaging the Schools. 

Strange to say, just at this juncture, when special blessings 
were resting on this seminary, a change of policy was devel- 
oped in Boston, and a resolution taken to break up this 
promising school — to put out this " eye of our mission." In 
1845, when this seminary had been in operation nine or ten 
years at heavy expense and without a single convert, we 
find the Annual Keport of the Board putting on record the 
following resolution : 



CHANGE OF POLICY. 221 

" In regard to the mission at Ahmednuggur, your commit- 
tee particularly notice the prosperous state of the schools, and 
the general interests of religion." 

Of this very seminary the report says : "It seems especially 
to call for commendation." 

A similar resolution was recorded in the report of 1849, 
and the blessing of heaven was resting urjon it and gather- 
ing its interesting and promising youth into the fold of 
Christ. In view of these facts, who can repress both grief 
and surprise at the sudden change of sentiment in regard to 
this seminary? In the Annual Eeport of 1851, we find the 
following : 

"In this mission the boarding-schools, of which the seminary 
at Ahmednuggur is one, have not answered so valuable a pur- 
pose as to warrant a continued appropriation for their sup- 
port" ! 

This change was sudden and suddenly enforced. 

Dr. Andersoris Letter of May 10th, 1851. 

In July, 1851, we received a letter from Dr. Anderson in- 
terdicting these schools, and removing Mr. Burgess at once, 
and Mr. Wilder after some delay, from Ahmednuggur, each 
to commence a new mission. In regard to the schools, the 
instructions were peremptory, as follows : 

"1. The Prudential Committee have unanimously come to 
the conclusion, that they ought not to make appropriations, after 
the present year, for the support and continuance of the semi- 
nary at Ahmednuggur. 

"2. As the committee see no proper use for boarding-schools 
at any of the stations, they will discontinue appropriations for 
such, after the present year. 

" 3. The Committee deem it their duty no longer to make 
appropriations for day-schools taught by heathen masters," etc. 

It will be seen at a glance that this change was sudden 
and sweeping. 



222 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Action of the Mission. 

How was it regarded by the missionaries ? Did they show 
any disposition to disregard instructions? Far otherwise. 
Much as these instructions conflicted with their convictions 
and all their previous practice, and disastrous as they fore- 
saw the results would be, they took prompt action in com- 
pliance with these instructions as follows : 

"Resolved, That the allowance for food and clothing to schol- 
ars in the different boarding-schools be discontinued from the 
close of the present month. 

"Resolved, That all free-schools taught by heathen teachers 
be discontinued from the close of the present month." 

In view of this prompt action by the missionaries, and 
their readiness to obey instructions against their own convic- 
tions, may we not properly ask, what necessity for Deputa- 
tions? Might not the unfortunate high-school in the Bom- 
bay mission have been interdicted in the same way in 1854, 
without involving so much expense of time and money in 
sending a Deputation for this purpose ? 

This summary action cut off the schools at a blow. It 
was modified a little, however, by subsequent action. The 
girls' schools under the care of Miss Farrar, though taught 
by heathen teachers, were made special exceptions. I knew 
that if the school at Kewase should be disbanded it would 
cut off the connection of the native preacher with the people 
to a great extent, and render his longer residence there 
almost useless. I therefore begged my brethren to spare 
that school until I could represent the case and intercede for 
it with the Secretary and Committee in Boston. The breth- 
ren granted my request, and that school was spared and 
prospered till the Deputation suppressed it 1854. 

Brother Hazen, too, begged the same favor for two or 
three of his schools taught by heathen teachers at Seroor, and 
his request was granted. 

I made no effort to save the boarding character of the 
seminary, having gradually reduced that element till I felt 



AHMEDN.UGGUR SEMINARY. 223 

prepared to try to retain the pupils by the inducement of 
English only. The great attraction to pupils of the higher 
castes had always been the privilege of learning English. 
And now, as our free-schools with heathen teachers were 
abandoned, this element of our seminary was our only effect- 
ive link connecting us with the high castes. I therefore 
felt extremely "anxious to retain this link unbroken, and as 
effective as possible. 

Reduced Expense of the Seminary. 

It may interest some minds to note the gradual and great 
reduction in the expense of this seminary its last six years. 
For its first ten years, its annual expense had been from 
Es. 2000 to Es. 3000. From 1842 to 1846, its annual ex- 
pense, (including the primary department called the "Christ- 
ian school,") as taken from the records of the mission trea- 
surer, is as follows : 

1842. 1843. 1844. 1845. 1846. 

Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. 

Total expense, 2998 1925 2570 2749 1924 

From 1816 to 1851, the period of my connection with it, 
the reduction of expense appears from the following items 
taken, as the above, from the records of the mission trea- 
surer : 

1846. 1847. 1848. 1849. 1850. 1851. 

Total expense, Rs. 1924 1311 1292 1349 1142 844 

Number of pupils, 49 80 80 82 63 83 

Expense for board of pupils and ? Rs>1528 g25 g30 ^ ^ 389 

incidentals, ) 

The last row of figures shows what proportion of the en- 
tire expense went for the board of the pupils and the inci- 
dentals of the school, and how rapidly its boarding element 
was disappearing. Its boarding expense diminished more 
rapidly than its total expense, because in its first years native 
helpers were often employed in it as teachers, their salary 
being charged under the item of native helpers ; but in the 
later years of the school, those helpers being removed to 
other duties, new teachers were employed, and their salaries 



224 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

charged to the seminary. With the eye upon the last row 
of figures, which indicate the boarding and incidental ex- 
pense of the school, is it not manifest that a year or two 
more would have entirely removed its boarding character ? 
There was much reason to hope, too, that by this gradual 
reduction the institution would lose nothing in the number 
and character of its pupils and still secure us valuable con- 
nection and influence with the young men of the higher castes. 

The sudden suppression of its boarding character, gave an 
unhappy shock to the school, but anxious to save it if pos- 
sible, I entreated my brethren to allow me to continue one 
lesson a day in English, and see if, by this alone, I could not 
retain these interesting youth under our Christian teaching. 
They granted my request for three or four months, till I 
should have time to urge my plea and hear again from 
Boston. 

The result exceeded my most sanguine expectations. In- 
stead of falling off, there was an actual increase, and the 
year closed with 83 pupils. 

Reporting the seminary at this juncture, the Missionary 
Herald says : 

" The seminary has from the first embraced many pupils from 
the higher castes. It was because of the difficulty of bringing 
such persons under the influence of the mission, that it was 
originally made a boarding-school. And this difficulty has been 
felt to such an extent, that heretofore a change has not been 
thought practicable. And even now we fully expected that 
many of the pupils would leave. But the school had in a mea- 
sure become prepared for the change by a gradual diminution, 
for four or five years past, both of the allowance for board and 
of the number who received it ; so that to our surprise more 
scholars have entered since the change than have left on account 
of it. 

" The religious interest in the seminary has been such . . . 
as to encourage the hope that the convictions of several young 
men will prove deep and genuine, and ultimately result in a 
public profession of their faith in Christ. One of them indeed 
has made such a profession since the close of the year," and an- 
other in November. 



RESULTS OF BREAKING- UP THE SCHOOLS. 225 

Will it not be supposed that such, pleasing results would 
have secured the perpetuity of this school ? that the home 
officers seeing it able to go on and prosper without its board- • 
ing character, would rejoice in its success and withdraw their 
interdict ? Oh ! what a vantage-ground for good was here 
sacrificed. Anxiously we waited their permission to continue 
the school on this new foundation, but it came not, and this 
useful and favored seminary ceased to exist. 

Unhappy Hesults of breaking up the Schools. 

It will be readily inferred that this sudden change of 
policy must have shaken the mission severely. The intima- 
tions of this change, in the Missionary Herald, and of its 
results, are extremely laconic : 

" Important changes have been made in the educational sys- 
tem at Alimednuggur. AH the boarding-schools .... were 
discontinued in September, together with such of the boys' free 
schools, nine in number, as were under the care of heathen 
teachers. 

" The year has necessarily been much broken. . . . There 
is hardly a beginning made yet in reconstructing the schools." 

The manuscript report of the mission brings to view the 
unhappy results of disbanding the free schools as follows : 

" The disbanding our nine hoys'' free schools was a measure 
which we could not adopt without some concern. It proved, 
as we expected, an occasion of exultation on the part of op- 
posers. These understand not the silent operations of the 
Spirit of God, and judge of our influence and the progress of 
our work only from our visible operations. No wonder that 
the disbanding of so large a number of schools furnished them 
occasion for a temporary triumph. The ready inference to 
their minds was, that our resources were failing, and many ex- 
ultingly predicted that we should soon leave the country." 

This impression was injurious to our work, and might 
easily have been avoided. It will readily be seen that if 
these schools were to be abandoned, it should have been 
10* 



226 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

done gradually, and the mission spared the shock of such a. 
sudden and sweeping change. 

The year before these schools were interdicted, one of the 
missionaries, while on a preaching-tour, wrote to Dr. Ander- 
son, Aug. 8, 1850, as follows : 

" The average expense of each school is about Us. 6 per 
month. As the subject of schools is latterly receiving consid- 
erable attention from you, allow me to express my honest com 
victions of the wisdom of this expenditure, and the utility of 
these agencies. . . . Our common-school system is of long 
standing, and in my opinion does great credit to its originators, 
the former missionaries. It graduates the pay of the teacher 
according to the number and progress of his pupils, and conse- 
quently, the more strictly the rules are applied to a certain 
limit, the less expensive, and at the same time, the more effi- 
cient becomes the school. The schools for Christian children 
are an exception to this rule, the number of scholars being 
small and the pay of the teacher being fixed. Of all these 
schools I may say, every time I visit them, I am strongly im- 
pressed with a conviction of their importance. Their entire 
expense is about Rs. 80 per month, say Rs. 1000 a year. The 
annual expense of our station is some Rs. 18,000 or Rs. 20,000. 
You can easily compare the different kinds of labor, and judge 
whether too much goes to this department. Preaching is 
urged as the great work, and rightly too. But I must say I 
tour and preach with very different apparent success and plea- 
sure, too, in this region where we are known by our schools. 
I can not avoid feeling that in no way ean toe so speedily com- 
municate a correct knowledge of the Christian religion to the 
masses of any particular district as by means of schools — in 
no other way can we do it so economically. 

" The extra expense of a missionary on tour, alone, varies 
from two to three rupees per day. [With his family, it is gen- 
erally more.] It is safe to say the extra expense of two days 
on tour will support a common school a whole month. In two 
days a tourist may declare his message, perhaps in four vil- 
lages — be partially understood, and hope and pray for a bless- 
ing on the seed sown by the wayside — on soil rocky and 
barren, or all rank with thorns and thistles — no previous 
preparation, no after-cultivation. With God all things are 



RESULTS OF BREAKING UP THE SCHOOLS. 227 

possible, but it does not often prove possible to realize any- 
manifest fruit from such labor. 

" But the school — does fruit appear here ? To me there 
does. Truth is fixed in the child's mind. The Lord's prayer, 
ten commandments and catechisms, become as familiar as the 
language of the nursery. They must be remembered. They 
will be remembered, in most cases for life. And to prevent 
their having an influence on the mind and character of the 
child, is to reverse the order of nature. They do have an influ- 
ence. The children in all our schools are generally convinced 
of the absolute folly of idolatry and heathen superstitions. 
Some of them manifest this conviction by direct acts of disre- 
spect — throwing stones, and showing other abuse to the idols. 
Now can any intelligent person avoid seeing and feeling that 
among the children of these schools there is a foundation laid 
for the most hopeful results in coming years ? that such a pro- 
cess of education will of itself eventually undermine Hinduism ? 

" But must Ave wait for future generations to witness saving 
results from these schools ? Not so. Have not all these child- 
ren parents ? and is not much of this truth communicated to 
them by the children ? and in just the way to be received with 
the least prejudice? And not only the parents, but all the 
people of the village, many from the neighboring villages, and 
the traveller from a distance, come in contact with these child- 
ren and schools, and thus with the truth. In some instances 
parents are enraged by the truth, and then the school must 
stop ; but if they tolerate it, that moment truth gains a 
victory." 

With such experience and convictions, it will readily be 
imagined that this great and sudden change of policy, in- 
volving the exclusion of English from the seminary, and its 
consequent extinction, as well as the suppression of our nine 
high- caste free schools, could not go into effect without caus- 
ing much pain and sorrow to those of the missionaries most 
deeply interested in them. Some brief expression of their 
views in this connection, is necessary to a proper under- 
standing of the case. 



228 MISSION SCHOOLS. 



Letter from the Mission Secretary to Dr. Anderson. 

The pastor of the native church being also secretary of 
the mission, forwarding the minutes of their meeting, at 
which action was taken abolishing the schools, according to 
instructions, wrote to Dr. A. as follows : 

" In forwarding the minutes of our annual meeting, it seems 
to be a fitting occasion for the frank expression of individual 
views. The action of the mission in regard to schools has dis- 
banded them, [as you directed.] You will not wonder that 
those of us who have been most deeply interested and engaged 
in these schools, see them disbanded with reluctance and some 
misgivings. I dare say you will more pity than blame us in 
this matter." 

Pleading for the seminary, he writes : 

" I feel constrained to give my opinion, and I think I can do 
so disinterestedly, from the fact that I must soon leave it and 
all my labors in this mission, [and go to Kolapoor.] Our good- 
caste free schools being disbanded, the seminary is now the 
only connecting link between us and the good-caste people. 
Exclude English and the higher Mahratta studies, and [by the 
certain withdrawal of our good-caste pupils] our acquaintance, 
intercourse, and influence with the intelligent part of the com- 
munity, will almost, if not entirely cease. This would be a 
two-fold evil. While it would destroy our influence with those 
above, it would weaken it with those below. Such is human 
nature the world over. Our labors with the higher castes do 
serve to give us more favor with the lower castes. They also 
give us desirable facilities for elevating the low T er castes. In 
our seminary, all castes, the highest and lowest, are brought 
together on the same seats, and hi the same classes, without 
the slightest distinction — a state of things never hitherto 
tolerated in government schools. To understand the full value 
of this practice, you need to come in contact, year after year, 
with this abominable system of caste. The good influence of 
our seminary in this one particular will, I fear, never be fully 
appreciated in America. The gradual breaking down of caste 
prejudice, and the increasing conviction of truth in the minds 



TETTER FROM THE MISSION SECRETARY. 229 

of these young men, is something which can not be definitely 
estimated. We want a report of so many actual conversions, 
and then we can estimate progress. May the Lord grant us 
such evidence of progress. We will labor and pray for it in 
confident hope, and at the same time try not to undervalue the 
smaller tokens of his love." 

Referring to the large number of converts of most hopeful 
promise, already gathered in from the pupils of the semi- 
nary, in the last five years, he next speaks of the inquirers : 

" There has been a hopeful state of feeling in the seminary 
during much of the past year. For the last five months the 
twelve living on mission premises have been accustomed to 
meet with me or their Christian teacher for prayer and instruc- 
tion, every evening in the week, when not engaged in public 
exercises. Nursoo, ISTarayan, Ramchunder, Vithoo, Hussana, 
and some others of the most advanced young men, are free to 
confess their honest convictions of the truth. Dada Meer and 
Phondoo Sonar are asking for admission to the Church. Now 
can it be wise to thrust these young men entirely beyond our 
influence ? We do so, of course, if we exclude English and 
the higher Mahratta studies. 

" I shall be the last man to lack interest in efforts among the 
Mabars and ' village congregations.' . . . But I beg you 
will not imagine the two modes of labor at all conflict with 
each other. Our educational efforts for the higher castes serve 
the better to commend us to the lower castes, and give us 
facilities for elevating the latter as above stated. My earnest 
feeling, therefore, is, do not shut us up exclusively to the 
Mahars. Let us have at least one school in which we may 
hold out the inducement to good-caste young men of a 
thorough education in the higher vernacular studies, and one 
third of their lessons in English. Such a school in reality will 
involve little or no expense. The mission will always, I hope, 
have some Christian young men, like Rama and Vyenkutrao, 
Avho had better be engaged in the teaching and care of such a 
school than not. They will do very nearly, perhaps absolutely, 
as much good by preaching in vacation and out of school-hours, 
as if they had no school duties ; whereas these constant, regu- 
lar duties, furnish the most desirable kind of discipline in fitting 



230 MISSION" SCHOOLS. 

them to become native preachers. Let us, then, by all means, 
have a school of this character — a good school, in which one 
third of the lessons maybe in English, and the higher Mahratta 
studies shall be faithfully taught — and let us bring all these 
intelligent children and youth into it that we can, and then 
labor to convince them of the truth, and pray for the Spirit of 
God to convert them. The mission has put the school upon 
this basis for the present, and I trust it will meet your cordial 
approval as a permanent arrangement." 

The disappointment of this hope, and the breaking up of 
the seminary at the close of 1851, have been already men- 
tioned. Eeferring to the unsettled state of things around 
bim, the mission secretary continues : 

" The disbanding of the schools has produced some sensa- 
tion. Opposers exult, thinking our resources are failing, and 
that our influence will consequently diminish. Some inquirers 
have gone back, and we have reason to fear will walk no more 
with us. . . . One result of the new state of things, which 
gives me much anxiety, is disaffection on the part of our native 
helpers." 

The writer being in charge of the seminary, and still 
clinging to the hope that the officers in Boston would per- 
mit him to continue teaching English, had suffered the year 
to close without informing the students that the school was 
interdicted ; and then he allowed a month's vacation, that 
be might have ample time to hear from Boston before the 
next term should commence. But when the vacation closed, 
and no reprieve came, he found it necessary to discontinue 
English, and witness the unhappy results he had so earnestly 
sought to prevent. Writing to the Secretary of the Board 
soon after this event, be says : 

" It has cost me a severe struggle, and I have been unable to 
witness the result without much pain. About half our good- 
caste pupils have left us, and others are ready to follow them. 
The direction to discontinue teaching English I sent in to the 
head teacher from the villages while on a preaching-tour. Since 
coming in myself, I have been besieged by the pupils entreating 



UNHAPPY RESULTS OF THE CHANGE. £31 

me to allow them to resume their one — only one lesson a day 
iii English. I must confess this interdict of English in the pre- 
sent state of our mission, seems to me most unwise. As I look 
upon these young men of high caste, on whom the mission has 
already expended thousands of rupees, (between two and three 
thousand rupees have actually been expended for board, etc., on 
these same young men,) with an amount of painstaking and 
strength-consuming labor which can not be estimated, and now 
see them leaving and scattering in every direction — many of 
them in such a state of mind that we had begun to regard them 
as near the kingdom, but now going to government schools, 
under Roman and heathen influences, at all events, thrust away 
from out influence, and that most likely forever ; I confess I 
can not avoid feeling deeply and painfully. They had formed a 
personal attachment for us, and the mere indulgence of one les- 
son a day in English would retain them under our influence, at- 
tending all our religious services, and listening to Christian 
instruction an hour daily. But we turn them away ! To be 
sure I can comfort myself with the fact that the responsibility 
of this act rests entirely with others, but this does not make 
amends for the lasting injury to this mission and the cause of 
Christ here. But the Lord is able to bring good out of evil 
and in him will we trust." 

This exclusion of English virtually broke tip the seminary 
at once, though a few Christian and low-caste boys remained. 
Not only did the good-caste young men leave, but several 
of our most promising converts left also, being influenced by 
a strong desire and purpose to obtain a good education. 
Rama Bhore, Vyenkutrao, Tukeram, Suddoo, and several 
others sought admission to the institution of the Scotch Free 
Church Mission in Bombay. A feeling of disaffection ex- 
tensively pervaded the church and native Christian com- 
munity at Ahmednuggur, and several children of our native 
helpers left and followed our converts and inquirers to Bom- 
bay. Three of these were children of Hurripunt, the first 
Brahman convert of the mission. With much anxious effort 
Mr. and Mrs. Hume diverted these into the girls' boarding- 
school of our Bombay mission, where under the faithful 
teaching of Mrs. Hume, two of them were hopefully con- 
verted. 



232 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

In view of these results of disbanding the Ahmednuggur 
Seminary, few will wonder at the feelings expressed in a 
letter to the Secretary of the Board, under date of April 5, 
1852, as follows : 

" It is, perhaps, too late to urge any further plea in behalf of 
this seminary ; but as I look back upon its history I can not 
prevent the question often arising in my mind, whence the 
special favor to this school for more than ten years, when its 
annual expense was from Rs. 2000 to Rs. 3000, and not a soli- 
tary conversion among its pupils, and the sudden and total re- 
version of feeling in regard to it since the expense has become 
some two thirds less, and the blessing of Heaven has begun to 
rest so largely upon it ?" 

I submit this question to the officers of the Board and the 
candid reader. 

The unhappy results of disbanding our schools at Ahmed- 
nuofgur led our brethren in Bombay to feel more than ever 
before the necessity of a high-school there. They saw our 
converts — the hope of the mission for native helpers in time 
to come — leaving us and going to other missions and insti- 
tutions to prosecute their education. They knew they would 
be likely to remain in the connection where they received 
their education, or be diverted to secular pursuits, and per- 
haps fall away entirely. It was a time of intense feeling and 
painful trial to our brethren in Bombay, and they resolved 
to do what they could to stay the tide of evil. Hence those 
spirit-stirring appeals in Chapter IT., entreating the officers 
of the Board to authorize a High-School in Bombay. . And 
here we arrive at the fact that the prohibition of English 
in the Ahmednuggur Seminary in 1851, was the exciting 
cause of the Deputation, with all its expenditure of time, and 
money, and feeling, in 1854-6. 

I have thus far endeavored faithfully to exhibit the lead- 
ing facts connected with the schools of the Ahmednuggur 
mission. If I have- succeeded, comment is unnecessary. I 
may be frank enough to express my honest conviction that 
this authoritative suppression of our schools was a manifest 
departure from the broad and liberal principles of the found- 



UNHAPPY RESULTS OF THE CHANGE. 233 

ers and friends of the Board, and has proved unhappy and 
injurious to the best interests of the mission. But having 
said this much, let us throw a mantle of charity over the 
actors in this scene. Serious error was committed, but it 
was doubtless an error of the judgment and not of the heart. 
May the Lord so overrule events that the evils resulting may 
be soon modified, and valuable experience be gained for the 
future prosecution of our blessed work. 

A gradual return to some of the former practices of the 
mission commenced long ago. ISTo hoarding or English 
schools are reported, but schools exist into which promising 
children of both sexes are received, supported, and educated 
at the expense of the mission, and a few of the most promising 
scholars are instructed in English. To be sure, some will 
doubt whether it is wise for a missionary to spend time and 
strength in teaching English to two or three Christian boys 
alone, when he might at the same time teach them and 
twenty or thirty young Brahmans with them, thus bringing 
the most intelligent Hindu youth under his Christian influ- 
ence. But the fact that teaching English has been resumed 
at all in this mission, gives encouragement to hope that both 
English and general education will ultimately regain their 
proper place and importance there. 

The shock to our mission from this sudden breaking up 
of the schools and sending back so many pupils to heathen- 
ism, can hardly be appreciated at this distance. The year 
1851 commenced with about one thousand youth under our 
Christian teaching. It closed with only a few dozens. The 
report of the Board for 1852 says, " The mission have but 
one school for boys in Ahmednuggur," and their three Ma- 
li ar schools in the villages contained in all only " sixty scho- 
lars," One school with a heathen teacher, that at ISTewase, 
was still tolerated, and the report admits : " It is the object of 
chief interest to the Christian in that dark hold of heathenism.''' 
" To this Ramkrishnapunt has the opportunity of imparting a 
large amount of Christian instruction. 11 

Oh ! why should we disband such schools and destroy 
such precious opportunities ? 



281 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

The testimony of friendly heathen to the value of these 
schools is worthy of record. The report of the Seroor sta- 
tion for 1852, says : 

" In some places the people are earnest in asking a teacher 
to come and reside among them that they may learn the 
truth more perfectly. They say to us : ' You come here and 
talk to us once or twice a year, but before we see you again, 
we have forgotten all that you told us.' " 

After our schools were broken up in Ahmednuggur and 
the new policy introduced, I was often told by frank and 
friendly natives : " You will never gain converts so. You 
must establish schools as Mr. Ballantine used to, and then 
the children and parents too will come into your religion." 

It is well to learn even from our enemies. 

First Good Caste School with a Christian Teacher. 

So far as I am able to learn from a very careful examina- 
tion of all the records of this mission, no common school was 
taught by a Christian teacher till 1848. The case then re- 
ported was that of a school for Mahar hoys taught by a con- 
vert originally of the Mahar caste. Even this case elicited 
much joy, as an indication of very marked progress. The 
first school of good-caste boys with a Christian teacher, ever 
reported in this mission, so far as I can ascertain, was in 
1858. This year the missionaries say : 

" We have one boys' school in this city, taught by Dajeebn, 
a Brahman convert, in which heathen children are collected and 
instructed in secular knowledge and in the principles of the 
word of God. This school has been successful beyond our ex- 
pectations, and had we teachers for this work, we should be 
able to collect other schools on the same plan." 

But what was the " plan" of this school ? When I first 
read the above paragraph in the Missionary Herald I thought, 
surely here is evidence of progress. I inferred that the 
quarter of a century during which this mission had em- 
ployed so many heathen teachers, had witnessed such a giv- 
ing way of heathen prejudices, that now at length good- 



UNHAPPY RESULTS OF THE CHANGE. 2oo 

caste youth could be induced to attend schools in Ahined- 
nuggur taught by Christian teachers. And when I went 
there to meet the Deputation, at the close of 1854, I paid a 
visit to this school as something which was to furnish the 
most pleasing evidence of progress. But judge of my dis- 
appointment when I found, under this Christian teacher 
Dajeeba, the heathen teacher Mahadoo ! This Mahadoo had 
been employed as a heathen teacher years before, but had 
been dismissed from service. He was now employed again 
in this school, to collect and teach the pupils, but was called 
a "monitor." We had often had Christian superintendents 
to look after our heathen teachers before. What real ad- 
vance was there here? It is sufficient to say the "plan" 
did not please the Deputation ; the heathen " monitor" was 
dismissed, and the school ceased to exist. So that the ex- 
periment of gathering a good-caste school with a Christian 
. teacher, remains to be tried even in Ahmednuggur. When 
was dear Br. Ballantine right ? When he wrote, unbiased, 
" If Christian teachers should he employed good-caste pupils 
icouldnot attend their schools ," and "It is the only way they can 
obtain an audience" (p. 101 ;) or when, under the influence of 
the Deputation, he ignored those pleadings, and wrote : " It 
will not probably be found necessary to make use of schools 
in order to collect a congregation" ? 

During these years of agitation very few converts were 
gathered into the Church. In 1851 there were eighteen 
converts ; in 1852, only five ; in 1853, nine. 

After such a breaking up of the most effective agencies 
of the mission, what wonder that we find in the report of 
1858: 

" In Ahmednuggur itself it has been found difficult the past 
year to gain much access to the heathen. The congregation, 
on the Sabbath, with the exception of a few in the employment 
of the mission, who attend because they are required to, is 
chiefly made up of those who have already taken a stand in 
favor of Christianity. . . It is just now discouraging to see 
that so few of the heathen around us are readied by any of the 
operations now in progress here." 



286 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

No doubt this state of things, resulting from the suppres- 
sion of so many of their schools, had its influence in leading 
the missionaries so warmly to second, at this date, those 
earnest appeals for a high-school in Bombay. 

In the report of 1854 we read: " The female schools of 
Miss Farrar, taught by heathen teachers, have been aban- 
doned." By interdicting these and the other good-caste 
schools the Deputation completed the work commenced in 
1851, and almost entirely severed our connection with the 
higher castes. And yet, of the thirteen converts of this same 
year, 1854, nine were pupils, and attested (rod's special bless- 
ing on the schools. During these years of agitation and 
change the Ahmednuggur mission did not publish its usual 
annual reports in India. It commenced again in 1855, and 
apologizing for its long silence, it mentions as a reason " the 
gradual change of missionary policy which had been going 
on for three or four years past." Why this " change of 
policy" should have prevented a report, does not appear. 
In defining this "change of polkyv," the report says: 

"1. In former years boarding-schools for boys and girls 
were sustained at great expense, in the hope that many of 
those thus educated would become converts, and be fitted for 
the work of extending the knowledge of the truth among their 
countrymen. These boarding-schools were commenced under 
instructions from home, and the great schools of the American 
mission in Ceylon were held up to us as models after which to 
copy. Our Secretaries, however, several years since, began to 
change their policy in this respect, and in 1851 the abandon- 
ment of the old system was commenced in this mission, and 
completed in 1854 by the coming of the Deputation." 

In regard to this extract it is worthy of remark : 
1. That the missionaries do not state whether the hopes 
which led to the establishment of these schools were realized 
or not. Their sudden and entire abandonment would lead 
to the inference that those hopes had been disappointed, 
whereas the whole history of the mission shows conclusively 
that the boarding-schools were our most effective agency for 
bringing the low castes to instruction and conversion, and 



UNHAPPY RESULTS OF THE CHANGE. 237 

that in securing converts from the higher castes, they were 
•second only to the schools with heathen teachers. 

2. It is also worthy of notice that the missionaries throw 
the responsibility both of establishing and suppressing these 
schools entirely upon the officers in Boston. " They were 
commenced under instructions from home." " Our Secreta- 
ries began to change their policy." 

All who have attentively perused the history of the mis- 
sion will agree that a very great change of policy had been 
effected. And yet the Senior Secretary maintains that his 
views are unchanged from what they were eighteen years 
previous. [See report of Deputation to special meeting at 
Albany, p. 9.] Are the missionaries in error here, or did 
Dr. Anderson effect this great and radical change in the 
policy of our missions without any corresponding change of 
views on his own part? 

Again, we see this " change of policy" elates as far back 
as 1851, and what must be the bearing of this fact on the 
statement which has been repeatedly made, that the Deputa- 
tion had no fixed views and theory before they left Ameri- 
ca ? Is it not evident that they " began to change their policy 
in 1851," as the Ahmednuggur mission affirms, and that 
this change was only " completed in 1854 by the coming of 
the Deputation" ? Is it not evident that the experience, 
judgment, and convictions of every American missionary 
then in Western India was opposed to this "change of poli- 
cy," when, in 1853 and 1854 they all united in those earn- 
est appeals for a High-school in Bombay ? And was it not 
expressly to resist and extinguish these deep and united 
convictions of the whole body of their missionaries that the 
Deputation went to India ? 

And how does this action accord with the statement that 
ct the various missions of the Board are organized and self- 
governing bodies' f On this point the Senior Secretary af- 
firms : 

" The missions are all organized bodies, and they are so for 
the purposes of self-government ; and the administration of 
their internal affairs, just as far as possible, is intrusted to 



238 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

them. Each mission, when of proper size, is left to determine 
the stations of its members, to manage its schools, etc., and vir- 
tually to dispose of all the funds committed to it by the Pru- 
dential Committee." 

And was not the whole body of missionaries in Western 
India sufficiently large to be a self-governing body, and 
manage their schools f Were they not entirely unanimous 
in their opinions of the necessity of a high-school in Bom- 
bay? ■ 

Another change mentioned in this report of 1855 is : 

" 2. We formerly had a large number of schools for boys 
and girls, taught by heathen teachers. We now have none." 

This change would authorize the inference that these 
schools had proved unwise, and yet in the same report we 
find the frank admission that the heathen teachers had been 
converted " and these form now our most efficient laborers. Our 
native pastors were both originally heathen school- teachers, and 
in this way ivere brought under the influence of truth, and con- 
verted.' 11 

This frank admission is worthy of notice. The history 
of the mission is an invincible argument in favor of such 
schools. 

Ordination of Native Pastors. 

The ordination of Hurripunt and Ramkrishnapunt as na- 
tive pastors had been deferred some months, that the Depu- 
tation might be present. It occurred during their visit, and 
was an occasion of much interest. " It was a day never to 
be forgotten, especially by those who could remember the 
time when these two pastors were idolaters like their coun- 
trymen, and when, after many struggles and much opposi- 
tion, they first came forward and professed their faith in 
Christ." 

" In the beginning of 1839 only one of the present mem- 
bers of these two churches was a Christian. All the rest 
were enveloped in the darkness of heathenism. At that 
time the whole number of church-members in this mission 



CONNECTION WITH HIGHER CASTES BROKEN. 289 

was only eleven, and these were mostly inmates of the poor- 
house. What a change ! Surely this is the work of God." 
And may Ave not add, just so surely are those schools, in 
which these native pastors were first employed as heathen 
teachers, and thus converted, approved of God, and bear 
the seal of his own favor and blessing? 

Connection with Higher Castes Broken. 

The breaking up of our schools broke the effective link 
between the mission and the higher castes. The former 
pupils of these schools had become warmly attached to us, 
and I have large files of letters received from them since 
they left us, showing their appreciation of our kindness, and 
their honest conviction of the truth ; and several of them 
have professed their faith in Christ since the schools were 
abandoned. The influence of the schools has thus been felt 
for good even since they were broken up. 

In 1856 four young men of good caste came out and re- 
ceived baptism in Ahmednuggur. Their cases were report- 
ed at length. Years before they had been pupils in our 
mission schools, and there learned the Gospel. Two of them 
had been in our mission seminary for years before it was 
suppressed. One of them, Sawalya, was long a boarding 
scholar, and I then regarded him as thoroughly convinced 
of the truth, and he seemed on the point of professing 
Christ before the world. Another, Cassim, was a brother 
of Daood, who was baptized in 1847. Cassim was then in 
the seminary too, and his friends removed him lest he also 
should become a Christian. The two other converts were 
pupils for years in our schools taught by heathen teachers. 
At the time of their baptism they were students in the gov- 
ernment school, and the immediate agency in bringing them 
to an open profession of Christ seems to have been the earn- 
est and eloquent appeals of Dr. Duff, followed by those of 
Nilkunt Shastri, a converted Brahman, though the origin 
of their convictions and the foundation of their Christian 
faith is clearly traceable to our mission schools. 

Since the baptism of these young men in 1856, T have 



240 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

heard of no convert from the higher castes in that mission, 
except two or three children of Christian parents. The 
agencies of the mission and their results seem to have be- 
come restricted almost entirely to the lowest castes. 

Why were the Schools abandoned? 

I am often asked the reason for the sudden abandonment 
of our schools. "Why this sudden and sweeping change of 
policy ? I can give no satisfactory answer. The Secretary 
used to say to us in India : " The apostles had no schools, 
why should you have ?" Some of our brethren replied : 
" The apostles had the gift of miracles ; we have not." One 
brother, an amiable one, too, looked up with, much simpli- 
city, and said : " The apostles had no secretary to superin- 
tend their labors, why should we have?" 

The fact of a change of policy is unmistakable. For its 
true cause we must continue to refer to the Deputation. In 
the Missionary Herald of 1851, p. 8, we read: "The Mahar 
caste still affords peculiar inducements for all description of 
missionary labor, and is one of the proofs that it is better to 
direct our principal efforts toward the people of the lower 
castes, rather than the higher." 

Is this the rock which caused the shipwreck ? Is it pos- 
sible that the Secretary did not know that our boarding- 
schools were our most effective agency in securing connec- 
tion and influence with the Mahars even, and that while they 
constitute less than a twelfth of the people, their influence 
does not extend upward ; that if we would aim at the con- 
version of India we must have agencies that will affect the 
middle and higher castes ? 

The same progress, nay, even greater progress, might 
have been secured among the Mahars, and at the same time 
our labors been continued for the higher castes. Had they 
been continued, and the blessing of God rested upon them 
as formerly, the ratio of good-caste converts would have in- 
creased till the upper strata of Hindu society would have 
been affected as thoroughly as the lower. And the import- 



WHY WERE THE SCHOOLS ABANDONED? 241 

, ance of infusing the leaven of the Gospel into these upper 
strata can hardly be over-estimated, whether we consider 
their position and influence or their comparative number. 
The two or three hundred Mahar converts gathered into 
the Church before our schools were abandoned had brought 
around the mission a large number of their friends and ac- 
quaintances, many of whom have given up much of their 
superstition and idolatry, and constitute a nominal Christian 
community. The progress already made among these Ma- 
hars secured us a hold upon them which we hope will be 
permanent. A good number of converts are gathered into 
the churches from them every year. For this we will re- 
joice and thank God, while we can not cease to regret that 
the schools, so greatly blessed of God for winning and 

. saving those of the higher castes, have been so unwisely 
abandoned. 

I have expended much labor in efforts to prepare a Tabu- 
lar Yiew of the schools of this mission, but in vain. The 
statistics are imperfect, and for more than half the years of 
its existence, none are given in its reports. I find no account 
of native Christian teachers till the mission had been prose- 
cuted more than ten years, and then only two or three con- 
verts taught a part of the time, and in the boarding-schools. 

. The first Christian teacher in a common school was a Mahar 
convert in 1848, and a school of good-caste children has 
never been sustained, without a heathen teacher, so far as I 
know, even in this old mission. 

Imperfect as the statistics of the schools are, they are suffi- 
cient to establish the fact that from 1832 to 1852 — 20 con- 
secutive years — this mission constantly employed an average of 
15 heathen teachers. Now, if the good brethren who adopted 
and sustained these schools pronounce them "a failure," 
what is their apology for supporting them so long? And 
if the officers of the Board are alone responsible for these 
schools, and have just discovered that they are a failure, 
then may we not with propriety ask, how came they to be 
more than forty years making this discovery ? And if it 
took forty years to discover this error, then what security 

11 



242 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

lias the Church that there is not an error of equal or greater, 
magnitude still existing ? If the funds of the churches have 
been misapplied for forty years past, then what security that 
they will not be for forty years to come ? 

But such questions are suggested with much deference, 
while we cease not devoutly to thank God for the precious 
tokens of his favor and blessing upon these schools in all 
the past history of the missions. 

The history of the schools in this mission must here close 
for the present. It is sufficiently manifest that they proved 
its most effective agency for bringing the heathen to a know- 
ledge of Christian truth. The "change of policy" in 1851 
presents cause for sincere regret, and results in the necessity 
of changing again. A gradual return to the former policy 
of the mission has already commenced. Promising children 
and youth are received into schools and supported by the 
mission, and a few are instructed in English. The desirable- 
ness and necessity of a good English seminary is still im- 
perative. If such a school can be revived, and bring the_ 
intelligent good-caste young men of the city under daily 
Christian instruction, it will be a bright day for the mission, 
and one full of hope for the salvation of those precious 
youth. The memories of my delightful years of labor in 
this mission make all its interests dear to my heart. God 
bless and prosper it forever. 

Tabular View of the Laborers in the Ahniednuggur Mission, 



From the origin of the Station to the close of 1S5G, (prepared from the MS. 


, records of the 






Mission.) 






Length of 




Joined Mission 


i. Left Mission. 






Service. 








Yrs. Mths. Days. 


Rev. Allen Graves, 


Dec. 20, 1881. 


To Am. and Bombay, July, 


1832. 





6 10 


Rev. Hollis Read, 


♦ " 


" Nov. 


1S34. 


2 


10 10 


Rev. William Hervey, 


. " 


Died, May 13, 1832. 







4 23 


Rev. G. W. Boggs, 


Dec. 29, 1882. 


To Am., Oct. 2, 183S. 




5 


9 3 


Rev. D. 0. Allen, 


Jan. 1834. 


To Bombay, Nov. 18, 1886. 




1 


10 18 


Rev. Henry Ballantine,* 
Rev. Eben Burgess,t 


Oct. 20, 1S36. 






16 


20 


Oct. 21, 1839. 


To Satara, Nov. 21, 1851. 




10 





Rev. Ozro French, 


Oct, 24,1389.- 


To Am., Jan. 1849. 




9 


2 6 



: Absent in America 3 years and 20 days. + Absent in America about 2 years. 



TABULAR VIEW OF THE LABORERS, ETC. 



243 



Joined Mission. Left Mission. 



Rev. S. B. Munger,* 
Rev. R. G. Wilder, 
Rev. S. B. Fail-bank, 
Rev. Allen Hazen, 
Rev. Lemuel Bissell, 
Rev. W. Barter, 

14. 



Mr. Amo3 Abbott, 



Feb. 1S37. 
Oct. 27, 1846. 



To Satara, Feb. 1S55. 

To Kolapoor, Nov. 17, 1852. 

To Bombay, Nov. 1849. 
March 30, 1S47. To " * Jan. 1855. 

Aug. 27, 1S51 

Jan. 9, 1854 



Assistant . 
Oct. 1834. To Am., Dec. 1846. 





Lensrth of 




Service. 


Yrs. 


Mths 


D\9. 


11 


6 





6 





20 


3 








1 


9 





5 


3 


3 


2 


10 


21 



Mrs. Mary Graves, 
Mrs. Caroline Read, 
Mrs. G. W. Boggs, 
Mrs. A. Abbott, 
Mrs. E. Ballantine.t 
Mrs. M. Burgess, 
Mrs. A. Burgess, 
Mrs. J. French, 
Miss C. Farrar, 
Mrs. Mary Munger, 
Mrs. E. J. Wilder, 
Mrs. Abby Fairbank, 
Mrs. M. Hazen, 
Mrs. Bissell, 
Mrs. Barker, 

15. 



Female Assistant Missionaries. 

Dec. 20, 1831. To Bombay, July 1832. 

" To Am., Nov. 1834. 

Dec. 29, 1832. " Oct. 2, 1838. 

Oct. 1S34. " Dec. 1846. 

Oct. 20, 1S36 

Oct. 21, 1839. Died, June 24, 1842. 
March 30, 1S47. To Satara, Nov. 21, 1851. 
Oct. 24, 1839. To Am., Jan. 1849. 

Oct. 19, 1S39 

Dec. 1854. To Satara, Feb. 1855. 

Oct. 27, 1846. To Kolapoor, Nov. 17, 1S52. 

" To Bombay, Nov. 1849. 

March 30, 1S47. " Jan. 1855. 

Aug. 27, 1851 

Jan. 9, 1854 






6 


10 


2 


10 


10 


5 


9 


3 


12 


2 





16 





20 


2 


8 


3 


4 


7 


21 


9 


2 


G 


16 


1 


11 





2 






From the foregoing table it appears that of the 14 mis- 
sionaries, 



Of the 15 fem. assist. mi3S. 



Died in Serv. Ret. to Amer. Transferred. Remained in 1S50. 
1 3 7 3 



The assistant missionary had also returned to America. 



* Yrs. Mths. Dys. 

The average period of service of the missionaries, 88 1 14 



Ditto of female assist. 



95 1 18 



Yrs. Mths. Dys. 
5 11 7 

= 648 



* Absent in America twice, about 6J years. t Absent in America, 8 years and 20 days. 



244 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Compare this table with that of the Bombay mission, 
p. 155, and it is easy to ascertain the ivhok length of service 
of any one missionary or assistant missionary. For instance : 

Yrs. Mths. Dys. 

Rev. Allen Graves was in the Bombay mission, 21 3 16 

in Ahmednuggur, (see Table,) 6 10 

This shows his whole period of service to be, 21 9 26 

And so of all, though in case of two or three, the tables for 
Satara and Kolapoor missions also will need to be consulted. 



CHAPTER VI. 



SCHOOLS OF THE SATAEA AND KOLAPOOR MISSIONS. 
S A T A K A. 

The origin of this mission dates from December 2, 1851, 
though, it had been a station of the Bombay mission from 
June 1, 1849, and it had been repeatedly occupied before, 
fox short periods, by Mr. and Mrs. Graves. 

" The position of the place is singularly beautiful. It 
stands about a mile from the bank of the Vena, where that 
stream emerges from its narrow mountain valley, into the 
more open vale of the Krishna, with which it forms a junc- 
tion below the city. Round the borders of the two rivers 
rises an amphitheatre of hills, some of considerable eleva- 
tion. . . The city of Satara contains a population of 
32,000." 

Schools secure Ready Access to the People. 

Three weeks after commencing the station, Mr. Wood re- 
ports : " I have opened a vernacular school for boys in the 
bazaar." He soon adds : " The school continues in success- 
ful operation. One hundred or more are in regular attend- 
ance, and as many as that meet in Sabbath- school every 
Sabbath morning. I have lately taken another school of 
boys of 100 or more, under my care." Thus here, as in 
the other missions, the schools proved the most ready and 
effective means of access and influence with the people. 

In 1851, we find in the Herald, " The new station at Sa- 
tara promises to be one of much importance." But it suf- 



246 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

fered a severe loss, August 27, in the death of dear Mrs. 
Wood, whose zealous and useful labors for the girls and 
women were thus early terminated. 

Mr. and Mrs. Burgess, from Ahmednuggur, joined this 
station, December 2, and from that date it became a separate 
mission. 

Mahabuleshwur, formerly a station of the Bombay mis- 
sion, was now transferred to Satara. 

In 1852, a third school for boys, and two for girls, were 
in operation, and we find " the teachers were heathen Brah- 
mans." "Mrs. Graves has still an interesting school of 
about 25 pupils, five or six of whom give evidence of being 
Christians." " The schools both for boys and girls are 
quite promising." 

One convert, Krishnarao, was this year baptized and re- 
ceived into the Church. The Report of the Board speaks 
of him as "a young man of the Brahman caste, of pretty 
good English education. As he had an extensive circle of 
friends and acquaintances, the influence of his profession of 
Christianity was extensively felt, and he gave promise of 
being a very useful helper in the mission. But in May last 
the desire of a higher education led him to join the school 
of the Scotch Free Church mission at Bombay. 

The baptism of Krishnarao was the signal of alarm to the 
high-caste pupils in the schools, and many of them left, but 
after a few weeks most of them came back again. 

In 1853, the death of dear Mrs. Burgess brought another 
heavy affliction upon this mission and weakened its working 
force. Her life was useful and her death happy. 

Keligious Interest in the Schools. 

Of the success of their labors the missionaries write : 
"Four or five of the pupils, together with the teacher; 
give evidence of being much interested in the truth of 
Christianity." " Mrs. Graves has continued her school at 
M., a part of the year, as her health would permit. The 
number of her pupils is from 20 to 25. This school at- 
tracts considerable attention from English residents who 



THE SCHOOLS DISBANDED. 247 

resort to the Hills during the hot season ; and liberal sub- 
scriptions are made by them for its support." 

Mr. Wood, having spent a Sabbath at Mahabuleshwur, 
and being delighted to see some 30 girls present at his reli- 
gious services, writes : " They were from Mrs. Graves' school, 
having received instruction at her hands for years. . . . 
Mrs. Graves thinks that some of them give evidence of 
being born again." 

Of his schools in Satara, Mr. Wood writes: " Three of 
ihe larger boys in one of our schools, came to Mr. Burgess 
a few days ago, desiring him to converse and pray with 
them. They said they were convinced of the truth, and 
claims of Christianity, and that they believed in Christ, as 
their only Saviour and Kedeemer. Having been in the 
school from the first, they have obtained a pretty good 
knowledge of Christian truth." 

A few months later, Mr. W. writes again: "Many of the 
older boys appear to be fully convinced of the folly and sin- 
fulness of idolatry ; and we are not without evidence that 
the truth is finding its way to their hearts." Speaking of a 
precious interview with some of them, he says : " They 
avowed their belief in Christ, and desired to be baptized 
and confess him before the world. We do not think they 
are prepared for such a step, but we hope they will be here- 
after. We have evidence, moreover, that we preach to the 
parents of the children, and to others through these schools. 
The books are read at home ; and some of the boys are 
known to engage in discussions, setting forth the folly and 
sinfulness of idolatry." 

The Schools Disbanded. 

1854. — These interesting schools continued to prosper till 
near the close of 1854, when they were all disbanded by 
order of the Deputation. The Eeport of the Board says : 
" It has been thought best to give less attention to educa- 
tion, and more to the direct preaching of the Gospel, and 
the schools were all closed at the end of the year." 



248 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Soon after this event we do not wonder that the mission- 
ary at Satara speaks of " finding no regular congregation." 
He felt the want of one much, and as he was one of the 
brethren who had yielded their views to the Deputation, 
and joined in abolishing the schools, it is to be presumed 
that he exerted himself faithfully to secure an audience 
without schools; and some minds will be interested in 
knowing to what appliance, in this emergency, he resorted. 
It was simply this. He carried with him to his chapel, a 
bag of copper coin, and after sermon distributed it to his 
hearers. This drew an audience of forty or fifty paupers, 
instead of the intelligent and interesting audience of good- 
caste young men which had before been gathered, both on 
Sabbath and week-days, by means of the schools. 

I need not express my regret at the loss of those valuable 
schools. Had their number been increased and a good Eng- 
lish school been established, the prospects of the mission 
would have been full of hope. Precious youth there might 
have been won to Christ. But since those schools were 
abandoned, what young men have come to the missionaries 
to tell their convictions and ask for prayers ? 

I have repeatedly visited Satara, and have had the plea- 
sure of preaching Christ in her streets, her temple -courts, 
and the mission chapel. If there was any thing hopeful 
and animating in the mission, it was the bright intelligent 
faces and fixed' attention of those Hindu youth in the Sab- 
bath audience, gathered in from the schools. If there was 
any promise of future success, it centered mainly in those 
schools. Their suppression with a view " to give less atten- 
tion to education and more to the direct preaching of the 
Gospel," resulted in" banishing those interesting children 
and youth from the Sabbath audience, and reducing it to a 
band of paupers and a few servants and dependents of the 
mission. In saying this, I speak only of what I have seen. 
I have ridden to the chapel with the good brother (M.) and 
his bag of money, and seen him distribute it after sermon. 
I witnessed the result of disbanding those schools, with 
much sorrow, and look forward in hope to their future re- 



THE SCHOOLS DISBANDED. 249 

vival as the most effectual means of securing the success of 
the mission. 

In 1856, the Report of the Board sajs of thia mission : 
u Two persons of the Mahar caste have been received into 
Christian fellowship. The present number of communi- 
cants is supposed to be six. None of them, however, can 
be considered as strictly belonging to the people of Satara. 
'No inroad in the way of conversions,' Mr. Hunger says, 
1 has yet been made upon the ranks of the Prince of dark- 
ness, in this benighted city.' " These two Mahar converts 
had been educated in mission schools, and baptized in in- 
fancy. The other converts in this mission had been trans- 
ferred from Ahmednuggur. 

The following significant statement in the Missionary 
Herald of 1859, is from the pen of the same brother who, 
without his schools, felt driven to collect a Sabbath audience 
with the use of money. He writes: "My audiences are 
less numerous, and fewer of the educated part of the people 
attend. The consequence is, that there is less discussion 
and less opportunity of the kind which discussion furnishes, 
to bring distinctly into view facts which stand opposed to 

the objections in the minds of the people The 

conviction has gained strength by all our experience in 
Satara and in India, that the devil cometh and taketh away 
the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe, and 
be saved. . . We have need of patience, much patience. 
The truth does not readily find a way into these Hindu 
minds." 

Such, doubtless, is the conviction of every missionary of 
much experience in India ; and hence the imperative neces- 
sity of schools to gather and hold the people under stated 
Christian instruction till the focus of God's truth can be 
brought to bear on their minds and hearts. 

11* 



250 



MISSION SCHOOLS. 



Tabular View of the Schools in the Satara Mission. 



Year. 


Boys. 

Schools. 


Pupils. 


Schools. 


Girls. 


Pupils. 


1849, 
1850,. 
1851,. 


1 

1 

2 


100 

100 

200 






60 


1852,. 


3 


220 


3 




65 


1853,. 


2 


120 


2 




55 


1854,. 




120 


... .3 






1855,. 












1856,. 

















No Christian teachers were employed in these schools. 



Tabular View of Missionaries at Satara from the Origin of the Station 
June 1st, 184:9, to the close of 1856. 



Missionaries 



Rev. William Wood,* 
Rev. E. Burgess, 
Rev. S. B. Munger, 



Joined the Mission. 

June 1, 1849. 
Dec. 2,1851. 
Feb. 1855. 



Length of 
Service. 
Yrs. Mtlis, Dys. 
Returned to Amer., Nov. 1854. 5 5 
Nov. 5, 1853. 1 



11 



11 



Mrs. Lucy Wood, 
Mrs. Abigail Burgess, 
Mrs. Mary Munger, 
Mrs. Mary Graves, 



Female Assistant Missionaries. 
Joined the Mission. 



June 1, 1849. 
Dec. 2, 1851. 
Feb. 1855. 
Dec. 2, 1851. 



Died Aug. 27, 1851. 
Died April 26, 1858. 
Died June 3, 1856. 



i years of service by each missionary, ..:... 
female assistant,. 



Length of 
Service. 
Yrs. Mths. Dvs. 



10 
3 1 

2 6 



* Rev. Mr. Wood returned to Satara early in 1S57, and resumed his labors, 
t Blanks in this column show that the person remained in the missions after the close of 
1856— the limit of these statistics. 



KOLAPOOR MISSION. 251 



KOLAPOOR MISSION. 



Kolapoor is an "independent native kingdom," beyond 
the limits of British rale. It has a population of 550,000, 
among whom no mission had existed previous to 1852. 
" Rarely, indeed, had missionaries entered the kingdom on 
their hurried tours, and the great mass of the people was 
entirely unacquainted with the Gospel." 

It was my privilege to commence this mission December 
4, 1852. At no wish of my own, the Prudential Committee 
of the A.B.C.F.M. detached me from my pleasant and en- 
grossing duties at Ahmednuggur, and sent me to lay the 
foundations of a new mission in this dark region of unbroken 
Hinduism. I found it a difficult enterprise, involving severe 
labor and some special exposure and hardship. 

Kolapoor, the capital of the kingdom, has a population 
of 44,000 inhabitants, and a high reputation for sanctity. 
There is a tradition among the people that the gods once as- 
sembled in grave council to decide which was the holiest 
place of all the earth — that the claims of Kolapoor and Be- 
nares were found to outweigh all others, and that on putting 
these two cities in the opposite scales of the balance, Kola- 
poor exceeded Benares in holiness by just one grain ! "It 
could not be expected that a missionary would be welcomed 
among such a people. On our first arrival they sent a pe- 
tition to their king, praying him to banish us from his 
kingdom, and for some weeks all the respectable inhabitants 
kept themselves entirely aloof from us." 

As seen from a distance the city is "beautiful for situa- 
ation." The most commanding object, next to the king's 
palace, (see frontispiece,) is the white dome and towering 
spire of the temple of Ambabae. But this is only one among 
two hundred and fifty-two temples in this stronghold of 
heathenism. The city is fall of them, and like Athens of 
old, " is wholly given to idolatry." 



252 MISSION SCHOOLS. 



Opposition overcome by Schools. 

Earnest and persevering efforts were made to obtain regu- 
lar and stated audiences in this mission without schools, but 
in vain. Indeed, the first attempts to establish schools en- 
countered resolute opposition. The Brahmans of Nassik 
and other places hastened to apprize their caste-mates at 
Kolapoor of the many evils they had suffered from the 
schools of the missionaries, and warned them to be on their 
guard against us. It was some months before we succeeded 
in commencing a school, and then began with only two little 
boys. Both they and their parents consented to their coming 
with much hesitation, fearing the priests would execute their 
threats, and put them all out of caste. It was painfully 
amusing at first to observe the timid, anxious looks of parents 
and friends as they came near enough to peer in at the door 
of the school-room, to see what we were doing to those two 
little boys. But observing our kind manner, and finding 
that neither they nor the boys received any harm, they gained 
courage, their prejudices and fears rapidly gave way, other 
pupils came, and our first year closed with two hundred and 
five boys and twenty little girls under our Christian teaching. 

Those who would rightly estimate the value of these 
schools, should know that a short time before we commenced 
the mission there was not a respectable girl or woman in the 
whole kingdom who knew how to read, and only four hun- 
dred boys receiving any education, even in their indigenous 
schools. They should know, too, not only that the prime 
elements of Christian truth were a part of the daily lessons 
of these children and youth, but that the pupils formed a 
nucleus around which gathered parents and neighbors, thus 
furnishing an interested and delightful audience for my 
preaching services. 

The attempt of Mrs. Wilder to bring the little girls and 
their mothers under her influence and teaching was attended 
with peculiar difficulties ; but persevering efforts triumphed 
over them. The hundred and twenty girls brought under 
her teaching in a few years marked progress which glad- 



TEMPLES AND SACRIFICES. 253 

dened our hearts, and not only ours, but the hearts of all 
who knew the facts and felt any sympathy in our work. 
These schools were of special value in conciliating the favor 
of the higher castes, and changing public sentiment towards 
as. In the course of two years, the very men who signed 
the petition praying for our banishment, were frequently 
coming to our house, schools, and preaching-places, and 
seeking opportunities for acquaintance and conversation ; 
and when I wanted land, the king, of his own accord, pro- 
posed to give me all I desired. Speaking of this friendly 
disposition of the native Government, the Political Super- 
intendent, Colonel Malcolm, wrote : " The Durbar would 
cheerfully give you twice as much ground as you ask for." 

LETTEB FROM MRS. WILDER.* 
The City of Kolapoor. 

(See Frontispiece.) 

•' To the Readers of the Dayspring : 

" I have long had in mind to tell you something about Kola- 
poor, which is one of the most interesting cities of the Southern 
Marathi country. It has 44,000 inhabitants, and occupies a 
circumference of four and a half miles, on the southern bank 
of the river Punchagunga. The Hindus regard it as a very 
sacred city. In their books it is spoken of as the ' Benares of 
the South,' because it has so many sacred shrines. It contains 
more than two hundred temples. At a little distance, as I now 
see them from my window, their white domes and minarets, 
among the tall old trees, make a fine appearance. But could 
you come and walk with me through the winding streets of this 
city, you would see much to make your hearts sad. 

"Temples and Sacrifices. 

"Crossing the river, we see people descending the banks, 
thinking to wash away their sins in the sacred stream. Passing 
on, you hear the sound of drums and tomtoms, and soon meet 
a crowd going with their offerings to some heathen temple. 
Among them are priests with hideous faces covered with ashes. 

* Day spring, June, 1857. 



254 MISSION SCHOOL-'. 

At the turns of the most pleasant streets, and under the shade 
of the tallest trees, you see temples where men, women, and 
children meet to worship some senseless little idol. Crossing a 
broad street, skirted with trees on each side, we soon reach the 
great temble Ambabae, which is the largest and most frequented 
temple in this part of India. It is very costly and beautiful ; 
the cut and carved work being most tastefully executed. We 
are not permitted to enter it, but standing at the door, we can 
see the deluded people falling upon their faces before the idol. 
This temple is visited by people from distant parts of India, who 
make large contributions to it. In former years its annual reve- 
nues amounted to 30,000 dollars. 

" You know, dear children, the Hindus do not spare expense 
or trouble in doing honor to their false gods. See that little 
ill-shaped image ! Would you think it possible that any one 
can be so foolish as to call it a god and worship it ? Yet every 
year it is borne through the city on a triumphal car, and fol- 
lowed by immense crowds of people. A few days ago it was 
place in a palanquin and carried in procession past our house to 
the temples of Temblaee, where upwards of 15,000 people met 
to worship it. Foremost was the king and his retinue, on 
elephants, camels, and fine horses, moving on in slow procession 
to worship that senseless little idol. On these occasions, a 
young buffalo is slain and offered in sacrifice to the goddess. 
Thus, you see, they worship these idol gods instead of the dear 
Saviour who died for them. These sights make our hearts sad, 
and we know that God is grieved as he looks down from hea- 
ven upon them. But he loves the people still, and commands 
us to make known to them Christ and the true way to be saved. 

"The Mission School. 

" You will be glad to come with me to a brighter scene. 
What pretty building is this on the main street, with little 
trees rising in front of it ? Rejoice with me, dear children, 
that in this dark, heathen city, there is one bright spot, one 
sawed temple, appropriated to the service of the true God. 
Ascending a few steps, we enter :i large and pleasant room. 
It is well filled. Among those present are some two hundred 
boys ; and at one side, ranged along near the pulpit, are fifty 
or sixty little girls, and a small group of women. On the other 



LADIES OF THE PALACE. 255 

side, and in front, are many older people. The children rise and 
sing a hymn, and remain standing while the missionary asks 
them many questions from the Bible and catechism. You can 
not understand their language, but you will be pleased with 
their happy looks and tone, as they answer the questions 
so fluently. Their lessons are the same that you are accus- 
tomed to recite in your own loved Sabbath-schools in America. 
Some of them have learned two or three catechisms, and a 
great deal of Bible truth. Will you not pray that it may affect 
their hearts, and that they may be prepared to meet you in 
heaven ? It is pleasant to see how attentively they listen as 
the missionary entreats them no longer to worship their idols, 
but to believe on Christ as the only one able to take away their 
sins. Their interested countenances show that they understand 
his words. Sometimes the men give an audible assent to the 
truth of what he says. Two of our school teachers, of the Brah- 
man caste, seem quite convinced of the truth, and resolved to 
give up all for Christ. We hope they will soon be baptized. 

"Ladies of the Palace. 

•* When we came to Kolapoor, a few years ago, it was found 
difficult to persuade parents to send their children, especially 
their girls, to our schools. They even tried to prevent our 
having a mission here. But these schools have secured us 
much favor with the people. The king's sister, hearing of the 
progress of our scholars, sent her two little adopted daughters, 
and also a nephew of the king, to attend our schools. She one 
day sent to one of our schoolmasters to borrow a Testament to 
read. Not long after I paid her a visit, and gave her a Testa- 
ment. She seemed quite taken with the story of the ' prodigal 
son,' (Luke loth,) which I read to her, and expressed her sur- 
prise at the great love and compassion of the father, in receiv- 
ing and forgiving so wicked a son. I have recently been to 
the palace several times to see her and the queen. They 
always receive me very kindly. I was pleased to see that 
some of our Christian books had found their way into the pal- 
ace, and were in the hands of several of the children there. 
Among the ladies of the palace, the king's sister is the most 
intelligent, and has quite a noble bearing. She is a lineal de- 
scendant of the great Shivajee who founded the Marathi em- 
pire. Her oreat-grandmother was a most cruel woman. 



256 Mission schools. 



"Human Sacrifices. 

" In front of our house, a few miles distant, is a hill-fort which 
used to be the stronghold of native princes, and where this 
cruel old queen used to offer human sacrifices to please the 
goddess Karle. When I was there, a short time ago, the very 
spot was pointed out to me where the poor victims used to be 
sacrificed. It is within a pretty inclosure on the summit of the 
hill, under the dense foliage of beautiful trees that surround 
several old buildings, where kings used to keep their treasures. 
It was her custom to send men down in the night to search for 
victims, and the poor villagers were kept in constant terror. 
When we think of her cruel character, and now see this young 
princess reading the ISTew Testament, and sending her children 
to the mission schools, have we not reason to thank God, and 
hope that a still greater change and choicer blessings are in 
store for this idolatrous city ? 

" Your affectionate friend, 

"E. J. W." 

Christian Teaching in the Schools. 

The schools of this mission were all vernacular free schools. 
We taught no English in any of them. Their character may 
be inferred by the following extract from the report of the 



" All past experience combines to make us retain a high es- 
timate of these schools. As a connecting link with the people, 
a means of securing kind feeling and friendly relations, of com- 
municating most understandingiy and effectively the largest 
amount of Christian truth both to the pupils and their parents, 
as also of securing large and intelligent audiences for preaching 
services, such as can be obtained here in no other way, these 
schools still seem to us, not only extremely desirable, but quite 
indispensable in a new mission. 

" While a thorough course of secular studies is prosecuted 
in these schools, our primary and controlling object is to com- 
municate a full and correct knowledge of the Christian Scrip- 
tures. This object we are happy to know, is secured to a very 
good extent. The Scripture lessons being made most prominent 
in the frequent visits and examinations by the missionary, the 



GOVIND APA CHOWHAN. 257 

teachers and pupils soon come to regard them as the most im- 
portant, and a failure is less frequent in these than in any other 
lessons. 

" Thus a large amount of knowledge and an intelligent un- 
derstanding of Scripture truth is secured ; and as ' God's 
word shall not return unto him void,' so surely shall not this 
divine seed, sown in youthful minds, fail of a permanent influ- 
ence on their future lives and characters." 

Converts and Inquirers. 

As soon as our schools had won upon the feelings of the 
people so far as to bring them under Christian instruction, 
it was easy to mark the influence of truth on their minds. 
"Within the first twelve months five serious inquirers avowed 
their convictions and asked for baptism. 

Govind Apa Chowhan. 

The first of these inquirers was Govind Apa Chowhan. 
The first time I ever saw him was in one of my schools, 
then recently established, Pie had heard of this school, 
then exciting interest and conversation among the thou- 
sands of Kolapoor and the surrounding villages, and 
though too old to take the place of a regular, pupil, being 
a man of some forty years, yet clay after day and week 
after week, whenever I visited the school, I found him 
there, eager for knowledge. He purchased books of sci- 
ence and portions of Scripture, and studied them diligent- 
ly. His convictions deepened, and he was subsequently 
baptized and received to church fellowship. The mission 
report gives the following account of him : 

" Govind was born of respectable parentage, being a dis- 
tant relative of the king. Several of his relatives still rank 
among the nobility, and hold their enams, or landed estates, 
in virtue of their rank and past services to the government. 
Govind's branch of the family became impoverished by a 
train of reverses, and in his youth and early manhood he 
obtained a meagre support by teaching school, but was glad 
to change this profession for that of a sugar-merchant. 



258" MISSION SCHOOLS. 

" At one time he became connected with a band of evil- 
doers, whose occupation was to obtain money on false pre- 
tenses. Their common practice was to represent that they 
had discovered buried treasures, but wanted money to per- 
form certain idolatrous rites to prevent evil spirits from re- 
moving it, while they should dig for it. They would thus 
take advantage of the superstition and covetousness of some 
wealthy Hindu, promising to give him a portion of the treas- 
ure ; and having obtained from him a few hundred rupee3 
for the expense of the proposed rites, they would disappear 
with the money. When Govind became acquainted with 
Christian truth, his conscience rebuked him for this as for 
all evil practices, and he resolved to abandon them and his 
wicked companions, and commence a new course of life. 
He was resolute in his purpose, and made restitution so far 
as he could, to those whom he had helped to defraud. But 
his associates, either in revenge because he left them, or fear- 
ing he would inform against them, hastened to accuse him 
to government, and got him apprehended and condemned to 
a year's imprisonment and a heavy fine. The case having 
come before an English officer, Capt. Hervey, it. appeared so 
evident that Govind had forsaken his wrong- doings before 
his apprehension, and that the charges had been preferred 
in malice by his old associates because he had reformed and 
left them from the promptings of his own conscience, that 
the magistrate remitted his fine and imprisonment, and took 
him into favor. Govind's examination before government 
elicited the facts mentioned, as also his satisfactory know- 
ledge of Christian truth. Two questions and his replies, 
taken from the records of government, are as follows : 

" ' Question. — You have said that you began to think of 
making restitution to those you had wronged ; what led you 
to this ? 

" ''Answer. — I had been reading portions of the English 
Scriptures given to me at Kolapoor by the Rev. Mr. Wilder, 
the American missionary, who had also given me a great deal 
of good advice ; and I perceived that such ought now to be 
my conduct, and that I should leave off all such bad courses as 



GOVIND APA CHOWHAX. 259 

I had been addicted to, I had resolved to enter into the Christ- 
ian faith by being baptized, and I had quite forsaken my evil 
ways. 

" ' Question. — What do you understand by the Christian 
faith ? 

" ''Answer. — In the Hindu faith no one had ever offered any 
atonement for the sins of the world ; in the Christian faith I 
felt that there had been a Saviour ; I felt that I had been a 
great sinner, and that there was no hope left me of pardon 
except through that Saviour, Christ. Such was and is my 
faith. Neither had Ramkrishua, Brahma, Vishnoo, Siva, Ma- 
roote, nor any one in the Hindu faith, not even the Mussul- 
man's prophet, nor any one in any creed whatever, taken upon 
themselves and given up their lives for the transgressions of 
mankind; and it was from the Christian religion alone that I 
came to feel I was a great sinner, which I did not perceive 
according to any other religion. I had not either in my 
heart, acknowledged any fear of God (Permeshwur) hitherto. 
I did so now by the Christian religion. I felt that God was 
near me and saw every thing I did. I felt convinced for this, 
and therefore I began to repent.' 

" The date of the instruction and feelings here described 
was in the spring of 1853. After further instruction and 
the evidence of his sincerity for four years, he was baptized 
and admitted to church fellowship, witnessing a good con- 
fession. The influence of this convert was being felt for 
good, and two or three of his relatives were asking for bap- 
tism, when we were obliged to leave the mission. To leave 
him thus, with no missionary to direct his efforts, or to 
watch over him and encourage the development of his 
Christian character, and to foster the convictions in the 
minds of others — this rendered the necessity of leaving 
the mission one of the severest trials of our lives. Our 
thoughts often go back to him and others, and the interests 
of the mission, with intense anxiety. A recent letter from 
Rev. Mr. Wood, of Satara, reports a visit from Govind to 
that mission, seventy miles from Kolapoor, and says : ' He 
appeared very well. He went to Mr. M.'s meeting on Fri- 
day evening, and spoke for half an hour to a large audience.' 



260 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

"He soon returned to ' Kolapoor, with no missionary to 
watch over and encourage him. May the Lord keep him 
and make him a bright light in that dark place ! " 

The number of inquirers increased, and the whole num- 
ber baptized, at Kolapoor, or after removing to other sta- 
tions, was five. All of them were for months or years un- 
der our daily teaching, either in our city schools or at our 
house. Several of our teachers became thoroughly con- 
vinced of the truth, and were free to admit their convic- 
tions ; and some of them often came to read the Bible and 
pray with me alone, and seemed almost ready to profess 
their faith in Christ. 

The Schools abandoned by the Deputation. 

And here I have to record, with, sorrow, the abandon- 
ment of these interesting schools which had cost us so much 
effort, and which gave us so valuable a connection w T ith 
the people and such bright promise for the future. The 
report of the mission for 1855, after speaking of the influ- 
ence of the schools, says : 

" Such being our estimate of these schools, the necessity of 
abandoning them has proved a severe trial. Our late Deputa- 
tion pronounced sentence against them. In respectfully yield- 
ing to their authority these schools have been suspended. They 
have been more prosperous the past year than formerly, owing 
to the diminishing fears and prejudices of the people, and at 
the date of their suspension they embraced some five hundred 
boys and young men and about one hundred girls, of whom 
some four hundred of the former and fifty of the latter were 
in regular daily attendance. 

" Notwithstanding our very great deference to the wisdom 
of our Deputation, we have been unable to close these schools 
without feelings of sincere grief and sorrow. We can not 
avoid being conscious of the fact that their suspension is prov- 
ing a cause of triumph to every opposer of the Gospel in Kol- 
apoor ; while our deepest convictions from all past experience, 
assure us that the loss of these schools involves the sacrifice of 
our most effective agency for prosecuting our missionary la- 



THE SCHOOLS RE-AUTHORIZED. 2G1 

• 

bors. We may still be able to come in contact with individ- 
uals — one here and another there. But this we could do be- 
fore and with how vastly greater advantage and effect when 
daily and weekly instructing hundreds in the precious truths 
of the Gospel ! 

" If our Deputation could exchange places and labors with 
us for a twelve-month, we can not for a moment doubt that 
they would advocate these schools with all the persistency and 
authority with which they now oppose them ; and in case of 
their suppression, would not only grieve for their loss, but 
spare no pains or efforts to win again the confidence of the 
parents, and recover this most economical and effective agency 
for making known Christ to these perishing idolaters. 

" We still cling to the hope that our Deputation and Home 
Committee will yet reverse their action and allow these schools 
to be reopened, but for the present they are all suspended. 

" Our friends in this country have manifested a very kind 
interest in these schools from the first, and it may gratify them 
to know that their generous contributions have wholly sup- 
ported them. JVot a farthing of their expense has come from 
the home funds of the Board since their origin." 

The Schools re- authorized by the Prudential Committee. 

No one "understanding the history and value of these 
schools can wonder at the earnest appeal which was sent to 
the Prudential Committee at that date, in their behalf. (See 
p. 144.) That appeal reached America abont the date of 
the special meeting at Albairy, March 4, 1856, and received 
a kind hearing from the Prudential Committee. Permis- 
sion to resume our schools was promptly sent, and reached 
us in June. In the report of the mission for 1858, this 
event is thus noticed : 

" At the close of last year it was with much regret that we 
reported our schools disbanded in deference to the wishes and 
authority of our late Deputation. . . They had adopted 
views adverse to the employment of heathen teachers. . . . 
But our best endeavors to obtain Christian teachers for Kola- 
poor had been in vain. We had no alternative. We must 



202 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

employ heathen teachers or none at all. And what made the 
case more emergent, experience had shown us that by means of 
these schools we could obtain regular and stated audiences for 
our preaching services, and much most desirable intercourse 
' with the people ; while without them our intercourse with the 
people was extremely limited, and we could obtain no regular 
audiences whatever. In view of these facts few will wonder 
that we very much regretted the loss of our schools. But our 
Deputation did not find time to visit Kolapoor, and hence 
gained no personal knowledge of the peculiar difficulties in- 
volved in the origin of a mission in this part of India. Our 
best arguments, while with them at Ahmednuggur, failed to 
change their views ; and our request to be allowed to continue 
our schools on our private responsibility — drawing no support 
for them from the home funds of the Board, and not even re- 
porting them to the Board as a regular part of our mission op- 
erations — failed of securing their assent. Their official letter 
to this mission, after leaving the Bombay presidency, contains 
the following specific instructions : ' The appropriations for 
boys' schools will be discontinued next year, unless the com- 
mittee hear from you, that you have schools not under heathen 
masters, which the Board can properly sustain.'* 

" Our schools were accordingly disbanded, all our efforts to 
obtain Christian teachers having proved unavailing. These 
facts having become a part of the history of our mission, it 
seems proper to place them on record. 

" At the same time it is with devout gratitude we record 
also, that our Home Committee and Deputation kindly recon- 
sidered their action, and in June we received a renewal of 
their sanction for these schools. They were reestablished 
without loss of time — the same teachers being employed as 
far as possible, and the same pupils gathered into them so far 
as they could be found and persuaded to return. The schools 
have not yet regained their former character and numbers, but 
are gradually improving. Among the pupils of these schools, 
up to the time they were disbanded, were the nephew of the 
king and three or four other children from the palace. This in- 
troduced our Christian books there. Our schools, from the first, 

* This interdict covered not only the home funds of the Society, but also 
local contributions received in India. 



OUTBREAK OF THE SEPOY MUTINY. 208 

have had a very manifest influence in awakening more interest 
on the subject of education, and in winning the favorable re- 
gards of the people. 

" The Kolapoor mission is still in its infancy, and must be 
content to rely for growth and progress, on the same agencies 
which the Lord has so eminently blest in all our older mis- 
sions. 

" Two of our Brahman teachers have manifested increasing 
interest in the truth for some months past, coming often for 
private instruction and freely stating their convictions ; and we 
hope and pray that they may soon have grace and courage 
to profess Christ before the world. Several other inquirers 
also encourage our hopes that a good work is begun in their 
hearts." 

In the printed report of 1857 we read of these schools: 

" They continued to prove one of our most valuable agen- 
cies, till we were obliged to suspend them, with all the opera- 
tions of the mission, when we left India. To these schools, 
more than to all else, do we owe our preaching audiences, and 
the wonderful changes in the feelings of the people from open 
hostility to kindly civilities and friendly intercourse. These 
schools have introduced our Christian tracts and books into 
the king's palace, and into thousands of the best families of 
Kolapoor. One of these schools arrested the attention of 
our first inquirer, and drew him to us for instruction which, 
with the blessing of God, resulted in his becoming the first con- 
vert baptized in the kingdom. To these schools may be traced 
the influence which brought around us, on leaving Kolapoor, 
crowds of Hindus to utter their parting salutations, and ex- 
press their desires and hopes, some of them with tearful in- 
terest, that we might soon return." 

Outbreak of the Sepoy Mutiny. 

We left India the day after the sudden outbreak of the 
terrible mutiny of 1857. But our leaving had no connec- 
tion with that event. It was not even known to us at the 
time we sailed. Under the severe labor and exposure in- 



264 MISSION" SCHOOLS. 

volved in laying the foundations of this new mission, my 
health entirely failed, and I had remained at my post a 
whole year against the advice of my brethren and medical 
attendants, still hoping my system would rally; but in vain. 
We came to America with the cordial approval of the ex- 
ecutive officers of the Board. The necessity of coming in- 
volved a severe trial. We had just completed a mission- 
house near the city, and the increasing interest of the peo- 
ple, the hopeful conversion of some, and a large band of 
earnest inquirers, all the circumstances of the mission, in 
fine, combined to make us regret the necessity of leaving; 
as we did. From a note addressed to one of the officers of 
the Board, as we were embarking at Bombay, the following 
extract indicates something of our feelings : 

"This is a very, very sad day to us. Our brethren and the 
doctors combined, have persuaded us to turn our backs on the 
mission and work where we have experienced so much joy and 
sorrow, hope and disappointment ; and we feel as though de- 
tached from all that was most dear to us on earth. Many 
times during our hasty preparations and journey thus far, have 
Ave almost resolved to turn back to our people and work at 
Kolapoor. Had I anticipated the severity of the struggle in 
my own feelings, I should have much preferred to remain at 
all hazards, doing what I could at my post of duty, and going 
thence when the Master should call. But friends say he is call- 
ing us now, to do what we can to save and restore health for 
longer labor in future. It may be so, and we will hope yet to 
become resigned, though at present it is by far the hardest 
trial of our lives." 

The printed report of 1857 adds: 

" These strong feelings of reluctance to leave our mission, 
doubtless indicated a spirit not properly resigned to the order- 
ing^ of God's providence, and they were signally rebuked by 
subsequent events. The voyage was blest to the moderate im- 
provement of health, and we reached our native land in safety, 
but to hear of the fearful atrocities of the Sepoy mutiny which 
had commenced the day before we sailed, though we knew it 



OUTBREAK OF THE SEPOY MUTINY. 265 

not then ; and still more startling was the fact that the most 
violent outbreak in Western India occurred at Kolapoor after 
we left there, involving the murder of our nearest European 
neighbors, and leaving us no reason to hope our lives would 
have been spared, had not the Lord removed us as he did. We 
would record this special providence to his praise, and with 
thankful hearts for the hope we now cherish of being able ere 
long to return to our deserted mission." 

The terrific scenes of the mutiny were mostly confined to 
the central regions of Northern India. But the tide of dis- 
affection swept over Western India, and conspiracies were 
plotted at every military station, and held in check only by 
the unceasing vigilance of the British officers. Even this 
did not avail at Kolapoor, where a violent outbreak oc- 
curred only a few weeks after we left. It was shrewdly 
planned with a view to cut off all the officers and families 
connected with the regiment. The mutineers issued from 
their barracks about eleven o'clock at night, the darkness 
intense and the rain pouring in torrents. Most of the offi- 
cers were in their public mess-room, and the ladies had an 
evening visit at the house of the commanding officer, Major 
Holland, near hy. 

A friendly native saw the mutineers as they came out of 
their quarters armed, and perceiving their bloody purpose, he 
ran to the mess, and his old mother to the ladies, and gave 
the alarm. All ran in haste to the Kesidency, half a mile dis- 
tant in the opposite direction. The great darkness was in 
their favor. The mutineers surrounded the buildings and 
began to fire in at the doors and windows before they knew 
their victims had escaped. In their rage they cut to pieces 
the poor native woman who informed the ladies ; and plun- 
dering and burning the houses, they at the same time ex- 
tended themselves across the camp in such a manner as to 
cut off the escape to the Besidency of any Europeans who 
might be in their houses. Three unfortunate young officers 
had remained at home, and fell victims. The mutineers 
then hastened to the city, passing my house, but strangely 
leaving it untouched. With many of them I was personally 
12 



266 ■ MISSION SCHOOLS. 

acquainted, they often having visited me for conversation 
and Christian tracts. I would gladly hope their friendly 
regards would have led them to spare us had we been there ; 
but the twelve martyred missionaries, who perished with 
their families in the horrors of this mutiny, forbid the hope. 
They knew we had left a few weeks before, and that the 
house contained no plunder that would be of service to them. 

They hastened to the city and sought to gain access to 
the forces of the king, and induce them also to join in the 
rebellion. But a formidable wall makes the city a strong 
military fortress, and no access was possible without bribing 
the gate-keepers. In this they failed, and remained outside 
the walls. 

The little party of European officers and ladies in the 
Eesidency was still agitated with the most painful appre- 
hensions lest the other regiment near them should rise and 
join the rebels, in which case not a soul of them could escape. 
But some of the more courageous officers ventured to hold 
a parley with this regiment, and finding them faithful, those 
officers put themselves at their head, and marching down 
upon the mutineers, still in the suburbs of the city, they 
poured in upon them a sudden and effective fire which des- 
stroyed most of them on the spot. That morning's sun 
revealed not only the devastations of the mutineers, but the 
sudden and terrible vengeance that overtook them. Their 
few flying fugitives were pursued and brought to punish- 
ment, and probably not one of the Kolapoor rebels now 
lives to tell the tale of that fearful night. We can never 
recall the events of that terrible mutiny, and the beloved 
friends who perished in it, without remembering with grati- 
tude the special providence which removed us from its 
perils. 

The Mission abandoned. 

Being alone at Kolapoor, our return to America suspend- 
ed all the operations of the mission. But they were only 
suspended, and we fondly clung to the hope that we should 
be able to return and resume our labors. The sea- voyage 
did much for my broken health, and it continued to rally in 



APPEAL TO THE BOARD. 267 

the bracing air of my native land. After some twelve or 
fourteen months, I mentioned, in an incidental letter to the 
Secretary, my improving health, and expressed a hope that 
we should soon be able to return to our mission. A reply 
of Oct. 6, 1858, says : 

" The Prudential Committee [yesterday] voted to discon- 
tinue the Kolapoor Mission " ! 

Let those who would judge of our grief at this event, go 
and toil in such a dark field as Kolapoor, struggling with 
opposition and difficulties with a strength of purpose and 
interest that winds the heart-strings around the converts, in- 
quirers, schools, and all the interests of the mission, so 
closely that they can not be severed without leaving them 
mangled, bleeding, and palpitating from the effect of such 
violence. 

This abandonment of the mission was just after our annual 
meeting, and there was no chance for an appeal to the Board 
for nearly a year. Why is it that such business is never 
brought before the whole Board before the Prudential Com- 
mittee have taken action ? Why did the Deputation start 
for India with such absolute powers, to speak and act for 
the Board, just before the meeting of the Board, and without 
seeking advice and authority from its proper source ? 

Appeal from the Prudential Committee to the Board. 

At the next annual meeting of the Board held in Phila- 
delphia, Oct. 4, 1859, an appeal was presented in behalf of 
this mission. My first request for a hearing, was declined, 
but at a subsequent stage of the meeting when no business 
was ready and missionaries were called out to fill up the 
time, a gentleman in the audience, a stranger to myself, 
arose, and with dignified firmness, asked : "If missionaries 
are to be heard, why not hear Mr. W., who requested a 
hearing this morning?" The inquiry was opportune, and 
secured a kind hearing for the following 



268 MISSION SCHOOLS, 

Appeal. 
" Mr. President, Fathers and Brethren : 

" It has been announced to you that one of your missions in 
Western India has been abandoned. In the official announce- 
ment of this action to myself, the reason assigned was in the 
following Avords : ' It is thought that the funds placed at the dis- 
posal of the Board can be expended in India to better advantage, 
than in a merely protected state, where the toleration and pro- 
tection for the missionary and his converts are but partial, as is 
the fact in Kolapoor.' 

" In closing my reply to the Prudential Committee on this 
subject, I remarked: 'I believe there is proper provision for 
an appeal from such action of the Committee to the whole 
Board. In proper time and manner I shall wish to avail myself 
of this right of appeal in the present case. If you think of any 
suggestions that may be of service to me in preparing and pre- 
senting such an appeal, please send them to me at your earliest 
convenience.' The Committee have not favored me with any 
such suggestions, but supposing the proper time has come, I 
desire respectfully to appeal from this action of the Committee, 
to the judgment of your larger body. In doing so, I beg to 
submit that the reason assigned for abandoning this mission, 
(namely, that Kolapoor is ' a merely a protected state,') though 
a proper consideration to be weighed at the inception of the 
mission, is no valid reason for abandoning it after some five 
years of successful labor. Perhaps I should say just here, that 
the origin of the mission is traceable to no wish of mine, but 
rests entirely with the Committee. Waiving all allusion, how- 
ever, to past action, I beg to submit the following reasons why 
the Kolapoor mission should be at once resumed and vigorous- 
ly carried on by the American Board : 

"1. It is a large and interesting field of labor. — Just un- 
der the window of my ' home ' in India, is the city of Kola- 
poor, with a population of 44,000 idolaters. So frequent and 
flourishing are the villages around it, that within twenty miles 
of my door is a population of 120,000. And beyond on every 
side, is a wide region of unbroken Hinduism, embracing three 
or four millions. 

" 2. It is a needy field. — Darkness reigns there such as may 
be felt. Human victims have been offered to their cruel £»*ods 



APPEAL TO THE BOARD. 2G0 

within the memory of many still living. ... A few years 
ago, British officers canvassed the whole kingdom, and found 
only 400 boys, and no girls, receiving any education. They 
need the Gospel, and this alone can elevate and save them. 

" 3. It is an unoccupied field. — No other missionary society 
is laboring in that whole region. I am the only missionary 
who was ever sent to live and labor in it. My nearest mission, 
ary neighbor is at Satara, seventy miles distant. 

" 4. It is a promising field. — It is true that at first the 
people showed great prejudice and determined opposition. 
They sent to their king a numerously signed petition praying 
him to banish us from his kingdom. And when they found we 
Avere not banished, they adopted a rigid system of non inter- 
course. Our best efforts to gain a hearing from the people 
were quite in vain. But when at length we succeeded in gather- 
ing some of their children into schools, their prejudices and 
opposition rapidly disappeared. The very men who petitioned 
our banishment came in numbers to converse and listen, and 
with the nucleus of the schools we were always able to secure 
an audience of eighty to two hundred hearers. 

"More than a dozen became enlightened, and admitted their 
convictions of the truth. Of these, five were baptized and ad- 
mitted to church fellowship. 

" Not less than 500 youth became well instructed in the funda- 
mental doctrines of our Christian faith, and an amount of Christ- 
ian knowledge was widely disseminated among the people, at. 
thought of which our hearts always swell with gratitude and 
hope. We left some fifty girls able to read the Bible, recite 
catechisms, and repeat and sing Christian hymns, where before 
not a respectable girl or woman in the whole kingdom knew 
her letters. Here was progress which gladdened our hearts, 
and we know of no mission of this Board in India upon which 
the Lord has bestowed a larger blessing, in proportion to the 
amount of labor, in its first years. 

" 5. It has a good climate. — Situated a little east of the 
mountains, it is free from the very heavy rains of Bombay and 
the coast, while its proximity to the ocean secures a sea-breeze 
to modify the intense heat of the hot season, and thus the 
climate is a little more favorable than that of any other station 
occupied by our Board in Western India. 

" 6. The native government is friendly. — The king did not 



270 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

banish us at the request of his subjects. Myself and wife have 
always been cordially welcomed at the palace. 

" After our schools convinced the people that we desired to 
do them good, four or five children and youth from the palace 
attended* them till they viere suppressed by your late Depu- 
tation. 

"At the outbreak of the late terrible mutiny, when the 
houses of some of the British officers were plundered and 
burned, our mission-buildings remained unharmed. We never 
lacked protection for ourselves or our converts. When your 
Committee authorized us to build a mission-house, the king- 
offered us all the ground we desired. The day we were obliged, 
in broken health, to leave Kolapoor for America, he sent his 
court officers to express his regrets and a kind farewell, and 
some hundred natives gathered around our house, remaining 
from early morning till four o'clock p.m., and then accompanied 
us some distance from the city, repeating their kind wishes and 
hopes for our return, mingled with their touching farewells. 

" 7. A good foundation has been laid. — The special difficul- 
ties involved at first, in the prejudices and opposition of the 
people, have been outlived. A dwelling-house, chapel, and 
school-house have been built. A beginning has been made full 
of promise. 

" Col. R. Phayre, Quarter Master-General of the Bombay 
Army, a man in character and piety quite of the Havelock 
stamp, sending a monthly subscription for our schools, wrote 
as follows: 'I wish particularly to support your work, which 
I look upon as second in importance to none that I have seen.' 
4 1 must say that I have nowhere seen a more satisfactory state 
of matters than I witnessed that Sunday in Kolapoor.' 'When 
I visited your mission-house, and saw the practical working of 
your own and Mrs. Wilder's faith and love, I could not help 
offering heartfelt thanksgiving to God, who had implanted so 
promising and flourishing a nursery in the very heart of one of 
the most bigoted and perhaps hostile cities in the Southern 
Mahratta country.' 

" Similar statements have been sent to me by some twenty 
or thirty devoted chaplains, missionaries, and Christian laymen 
in India. 

" The Oriental Christian Spectator, an able periodical pub- 
lished at Bombay, making a kind note of our departure from 



APPEAL TO THE BOPAD. 271 

India, after speaking of our life and labors several years at 
Ahmednuggur, adds : ' Of the Kolapoor mission, in the same 
province, Mr. Wilder has been the father and founder, laying 
by wise educational and other evangelistic measures, a good 
foundation for the time to come, and on which, we trust, he 
will in after-years be spared to build.' 

" Here, then, is your Kolapoor mission — A large field — A 
needy field — An unoccup led field — A promising field — With a 
good climate — A friendly native government, and ' a good 
foundation for the time to come,' already laid. 

" Your Committee entered upon this field of their own free 
will and accord. Are there not strong reasons for holding on 
and prosecuting the mission with vigor ? I need not speak of 
the pernicious influence upon the minds of the Hindus, of fickle 
and hesitating efforts, of beginning to build and not being able 
to finish. I need not remind you of the scriptural estimate of 
those who put their hand to the plow and look back ; but I do 
urge that Kolapoor is a noble field for missionary effort. It is 
embraced in the title-deed of Christ and his great commission 
to the Church. The idolaters there need the Gospel, and must 
have it, or perish forever. You have voluntarily entered the 
field. Are there not weighty reasons why you should prose- 
cute your mission there with increasing energy ? 

" In urging this Appeal, I present only such arguments as 
remain valid whether I live or die. I say nothing of our own 
personal attachment — of the closeness with which our heart- 
strings have become entwined around the dear children and 
youth, and all the interests of that forsaken mission. Our years 
of toil, discouragement and suffering, while continuing to hope 
against hope till we outlived the peculiar prejudices of the 
people, have only bound our hearts more closely to them and 
the work to which we have devoted our lives. But the argu- 
ments here urged will remain valid in any possible event. 

" With becoming "deference to your honorable body, this 
appeal is respectfully submitted ; and I sincerely hope the Lord 
may incline your hearts to pass a resolve at once, unanimously 
resuming the Kolapoor mission. 

" But, if not — if you disregard this appeal — when the mem- 
ory of our forsaken mission comes over our souls with sorrow, 
we shall at least have this consolation, that we have done for it 
what we could. R. G. Wilder." 



272 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Could a vote have been taken when this appeal was list- 
ened to so kindly, would not the mission have been instantly 
resumed, as unanimously as the assembly at the late Jubilee 
Meeting declared for $400,000 the present year? 

This appeal was referred to the Committee on the Mahrat- 
ta missions, who reported : 

" The Prudential Committee have judged it best not to re- 
occupy the field, (Kolapoor,) for the reason that four independ- 
ent centres of operation in Western India, are found to be too 
many for the amount of funds that can be devoted to that part 
of the heathen world. The cause here assigned is one of those 
financial trials overtaking the Committee, in the pressure of 
the times and the exigencies of the Board in regard to 
funds. ... 

" Your Committee heard with great interest the appeal of 
the worthy missionary, (presented with so much ability, zeal, 
and earnestness,) whom ill-health forced from this important 
field; and they would urge, in view of all the facts of the case, 
that amid other and even more important fields in Western 
India, the one in question should be kept in sight by the Pru- 
dential Committee, and be reoccupied when the funds of the 
Board and men at its command, shall justify such action." — 
Ann. Report for 1859, £>. 18, and Missionary Herald, p. 333. 

This report referred the case entirely to the pleasure of 
the Prudential Committee, who had before abandoned the 
mission. Does not this result fully verify the recent state- 
ment of one of our leading editors of the religious press, 
that, "If the Prudential Committee err in judgment in a 
case like Mr. W.'s, it is hardly practicable, as such cases 
are managed, for the Board to correct the error"? The 
Prudential Committee did not reconsider their action, and 
the mission remains abandoned. 

Be-establishment of the Mission. 

But " there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it 
will sprout again." There is deep and abiding interest in 
this forsaken mission. Many praying men and women are 
unable to understand why it should be abandoned. In the 



RE-ESTABEISHMENT OF THE MISSION. 273 

midst of a dense population of heathen, seventy miles from 
any other mission, with millions of perishing idolaters around 
it — why, oh! why should it be abandoned? Why should 
the strength of a mission family for some five years, and 
$10 ; 000 in money expended in laying its foundation, be 
thus sacrificed ? Is it not a good locality ? All testimony 
confirms the statements of the foregoing Appeal. Dr. An- 
derson himself writes : 

" Kolapoor is a better place," and U I could not but hop>e 
it would take the place of Aurungabad in our plan of enlarge- 
ment." " You have [at Kolapoor] one of the most eligible 
posts in the Deccan. In my own mind its aspects stand related 
to the very delightful ones of Satara, one of the finest mission- 
ary localities I have seen in India.'''' 

The friends of missions are not satisfied that this interest- 
ing field should be thus given up. And how can they be ? 
The plea that it is in "a merely protected state," does not 
satisfy, for this should have been considered before so much 
toil and money had been expended. Besides, the Govern- 
ment is to all intents and purposes British, the king having 
little power, being decidedly friendly to the mission, and 
allowing no hindrance whatever to our labors. 

The plea based on a want of funds is not satisfactory, for 
$2000 a year — less than the salary of our treasurer — for the 
whole expense of the mission, is too small a sum for which 
to abandon such a field. Besides, the Prudential Committee 
immediately commenced another station at Sholapoor, more 
remote from any occupied station than Kolapoor, and where 
foundations must be again laid at heavy expense ! 

Ecclesiastical Action. 

Many of the best friends of the Board have felt troubled 
and grieved b}^ the abandonment of this mission. Two 
large ecclesiastical bodies, whose members have ever been 
among its warmest friends and zealous supporters, have felt 
constrained to put on record the following resolutions : 
12* 



274 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Action of the Champlain Presbytery. 

" Whereas, from long and intimate acquaintance of some of 
us with the Rev. R. G. Wilder, and in view of his present cir- 
cumstances and his earnest desire to return to his missionary 
field, we feel it to be a matter of justice to him and to the 
cause of our Lord Jesus Christ to express our sympathies and 
sentiments ; therefore, 

" 1. Resolved, That we have implicit confidence in the Christ- 
ian and ministerial character of brother Wilder, his strict integ- 
rity and exemplary fidelity while in the service of the A.B.C.F.M., 
[15 years,] as well as in his assiduous efforts to excite and in- 
crease in our home churches the true spirit of Christian mis- 
sions. 

"2. Resolved, That we consider him possessed of rare quali- 
fications for the missionary enterprise, and regret that impaired 
health obliged him to leave the foreign field, where he had 
labored with great success, and to which he was ardently 
attached. 

"3. Resolved, That as brother Wilder' s health is now so far 
restored that he deems it safe, and is earnestly desirous to 
return to Kolapoor, and being already familiar with the Mah- 
ratta language, we consider it very desirable that the way be 
opened to secure this important object. 

" 4. Resolved, That we will cheerfully assist him ourselves, 
and we cordially commend him to all whose hearts the Lord 
may incline to aid him with their prayers and contributions. 
" Stephen H. Williams, Stated Clerk. 

"Chateaugay, June 20, 1860." 

Action of the St. Lawrence Consociation. 

"Resolved, That having listened to the statements of Rev. 
R. G. Wilder, returned missionary from Kolapoor, India, we 
commend him to the sympathies, prayers and contributions of 
the Churches of Consociation, and to all who love our Lord 
Jesus Christ, in the hope that he may be encouraged and sus- 
tained in his noble determination to return and resume his 
labors among the perishing Hindus of Kolapoor. 

"Attest, P. Montague, Register. 

" Madrid, June 27, I860." 



TESTIMONY OF EUROPEAN" FRIENDS. 275 

If this action were for my sake alone, it should have no 
place here. Will the reader kindly dismiss its personal 
bearings, and consider it only for its relation to the interests 
of our dear mission ? For this it has a permanent value, and 
deserves a record in this connection. With this kind and 
effective encouragement, and the ready favor of many other 
dear friends, whose sympathy and interest will never be for- 
gotten, a few months' effort has resulted in gathering re- 
sources sufficient to authorize the attempt to reestablish the 
mission. We go back with joy, trusting that the prayers 
and aid of friends, and the promised grace and presence of 
Him who gave our commission, will sustain us in that dark 
field. In view of the hindrances that have obstructed our 
return for a time, let no friend ask, Why do you not remain 
in your native land? Dear native land! precious "high 
places of Zion !" beloved friends of our early years 1 Do 
we not love them ? God knows. 

" Yes, my native land, I love thee ; 
All thy scenes, I love them well." 

But did not the Son of God love the presence-chamber and 
glory of the Father ? And, in suffering for us, did he not 
"leave us an example, that we should follow his steps"? 
And has he not said, a Go ye into all the world and preach 
the Gospel to every creature" ? Is the Gospel heaven's 
choicest gift to man, and shall the millions around Kolapoor 
be left to perish without it ? Where, oh ! where can we do 
more for Christ and the salvation of precious souls, than in 
that dark kingdom ? With 44,000 idolaters under my win- 
dow, 120,000 within a few miles of my door, and millions 
around me a little more distant, with no other missionary to 
care for their souls — where, oh ! where on the globe can I 
find a more needy or noble field for Christian effort ? 

Testimony of European Friends. 

This sketch of the Kolapoor mission must here close for 
the present. But of the many statements of European 
friends, elicited hy the suppression of its schools and its 



276 3ITSSIQN SCHOOLS. 

temporary abandonment, it is proper that a few brief ex- 
tracts should find a record in this connection — the more so 
as they have a direct bearing on the great interests of our 
missionary work ; and it is well for the friends of this cause 
in Christian lands to know the honest convictions of intelli- 
gent laborers and patrons in the field. 

Of the able and efficient missionaries of the Free Church 
of Scotland, the Eev. Messrs. James and Kinnaird Mitchell 
write, (the former with some forty years' experience :) " My 
dear Mr. W., the Lord had signally blessed your well-con- 
ceived plans for collecting parents to public worship, along 
with the pupils of your schools. Such a fact is much to the 
point, for showing the connection between preaching to 
adults and educational institutions. It ought surely to be 
taken into account." " We have no hesitation in employ- 
ing properly qualified heathen men to conduct the literary 
branches of our seminaries, rather than be without them. 
We would have just so many of these schools as we could 
properly superintend. In India these schools present one 
of tlie best possible agencies for inculcating the truth as it is in 
Jesus." 

After testifying to the value of the different schools, and 
especially of English schools, they say : " It is our un- 
doubted experience that most, if not all, the useful converts, 
have been converted through these institutions. Every 
Indian mission ought to have them from the first, and they 
should be continued in full energy as long as it exists. 
They should never be extinguished, as we are sorry to hear 
has been the case at some of the stations of the A.B.C.F.M. 
It is a narrow and mistaken policy to discontinue the schools! 1 ' 

The Rev. A. White, missionary of the same church, writes : 
" Every way of gaining hearers for the Gospel, especially 
such a good way as instructing those who are in brutish 
ignorance, and quickening the torpid mind into activity by 
a sound education, must be faithfully followed. I trust that 
ere long your schools will be all restored." 

The Rev. Stephen Hislop writes : " I believe the Hindus, 
fortified as they are by the buttresses of an ancient supersti- 



TESTIMONY OF EUROPEAN FRIENDS. 277 

tion, trammelled by the fetters of a tyrannous caste, per- 
verted by the sophisms of a false philosophy, and corrupted 
by the impurities of a degrading mythology, are in a worse 
position for giving an intelligent consideration to the state- 
ments of God's word, than any other nation at the present 
time." Resting an argument for schools upon this basis, 
Mr. H. adds : " The Gospel is made known by missionaries 
in the schools as well as in the streets, only there are advan- 
tages for making it known with effect in the former locality, 
which can not be secured in the latter." After describing 
long-continued and faithful labors in oral preaching, Mr. H. 
says : " Not one soul was awakened, so far as man could 
judge, by the preaching of the word in the city and vil- 
lages." " I can not fancy any thing more paralyzing to the 
hands of a missionary, than to be debarred from using that 
mode of work for which he is best qualified, or which, at all 
events, he conscientiously believes to be the one most suited 
to his field of labor." 

The Rev. J. M. Mitchell, D.D., writes : " Were the Depu- 
tation offering their cherished plan of missionary operations 
for the imitation of all missions in India, I should strongly 
protest against a scheme so exclusive. For a mission planted 
in a large city to leave out education — to leave out even 
English education — is, I think, in the present condition of 
India, the same as cutting off a right hand. Towns of the size 
of Ahmednuggur and Kolapoor can. not be efficiently acted 
on, without education coming in as a part of mission work. 
In a new station like Kolapoor, the prohibition of schools 
seems a very serious evil, and I heartily sympathize with 
Mr. Wilder in his deep regret on this subject." 

The Rev. John Wilson, D.D., of thirty years' experience, 
attests the necessity of schools "ona very large scale, to 
bring the Hindu mind to any thing like a resemblance to 
that of the generality of unconverted persons in Britain and 
America." " The effect of mission schools in the west of 
India," he adds, " has certainly not been that of diminishing 
either the amount or efficacy of any other method of pro- 
mulgating divine truth, but the contrary. For every form 



278 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

in which they exist in the mission to which I belong, they 
have received the divine blessing in actual conversions. 
Even those of them which have been taught by heathen 
teachers, in the want of Christian teachers able to secure a 
due attendance at them, have been thus acknowledged of 
the Lord." " I am not aware of a single European mission- 
ary who approves of the policy which they [the American 
Deputation] are understood to have recommended in refer- 
ence to education, either through the vernacular or the 
English language." 

Eev. James Aitken of more than twenty years' expe- 
rience, says: "Is there no advantage in getting the poor 
children of darkness before their corruptions have been 
thoroughly developed, and their minds preoccupied and 
prejudiced ?" "I can not without deep interest, advert to 
the fact that, so far as my own observation and experience 
go, all the really satisfactory converts I have ever known 
any thing of in India, have been the fruit, either of educa- 
tional seminaries, or of a process of laborious and protracted 
tuition, equal to that which is practised in these seminaries." 

Of our worthy brethren of the Ikish Presbyterian 
Church, Eev. Dr. Glasgow very fitly remarks : " Our great 
commission is to ' teach all nations,' and by what logic the 
teaching of the young and of science is to be excluded, I do 
not know." "lean testify from long experience that the 
conducting of schools does not decrease but increase the ac- 
tual amount of direct preaching of the Gospel, by furnish- 
ing occasions of time, place, and audience." 

Eev. James McKee of the same mission, writes : " I con- 
fess I sympathize with you, and have done all along, in de- 
ploring several of the changes effected by your late Depu- 
tation. Necessity as well as wisdom must soon compel you 
to reestablish your schools." " I am, I confess, amazed, 
that men such as those deputed by your Board, could so 
ignore the opinions and practices, not only of their own 
missionaries in India, but of the missionaries of every other 
body of which I know any thing. By their decision regard- 
ing schools, they have virtually pronounced regarding most 



TESTIMONY OF EUROPEAN FRIENDS. 279 

of the missionaries in India that they are unfit for their of- 
fice." " I am constrained to believe that the closing of the 
schools belonging to the American missions in this Presiden- 
cy, was a rash and unwise proceeding, and that the sooner this 
resolution is rescinded and these schools reopened, the better." 

I have before me very full statements from our excellent 
brethren of the London Missionary Society, stationed at 
Belgaum, Bellary, Bangalore, and other places. Their tes- 
timony is unanimous and earnest in favor of schools, and 
that too after missionary experience, in some individual cases, 
of twenty, thirty, and even forty years. I would gladly 
place their valuable statements on record in detail, but can 
find room for only a few brief extracts. After developing 
their educational views and plans at length, their Corre- 
sponding Secretary, Eev. J. Sewall, adds : " In order to car 
ry out these educational labors, it is considered : 

" That hoarding -schools for boys and girls should be es- 
tablished, and vigorously and prayerfully conducted at each 
of our stations. . . . 

" That a superior English and vernacular day-school 
should be established at each principal station — as this 
appears to be almost the only method of reaching that im- 
portant class of society, the children of the middle and up- 
per ranks of the people. 

"That we regard it equally essential that purely vernacu- 
lar schools be established for the benefit of the masses of 
the people," etc. 

The views and practice of the able and successful mission- 
aries of the Church of England, are so well known to be 
decidedly in favor of schools as one of their most effective 
agencies, that I need not quote them here. I have them in 
their reports, and in the letters of individual missionaries 
and chaplains, and would gladly place them on record, es- 
pecially the statements of esteemed friends, as the Eev. C. 
Laing and the Eev. H. H. Brereton, who have expressed 
their very high estimate of our schools and personal labors, 
in terms of special kindness. 

And it should be known that the Christian laity in India 



2S0 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

appreciate the effective agency of our schools, no less readily 
than the missionaries themselves. The cheerful liberality 
with which they give to support these schools, has already 
been mentioned. Some statements of Col. K. Phayre, 
Quarter-Master General of the Bombay army, were quoted 
in the appeal for the Kolapoor mission. In the same con- 
nection, speaking of our schools and Sabbath services, he 
says : " There I witnessed the children receiving instruction 
in the way of salvation, and the fathers naturally interested 
in the progress of their offspring, attending to hear. Now 
we know that faith cometh-by hearing, and there can be no 
more auspicious moment for a man to hear to the saving of 
his soul, than when his heart is softened toward the preach- 
er by gratitude for kindness to his child. I have now been 
about twenty years in India, and have long felt that teach- 
ing and preaching must aid each other." " Oh ! what a 
pity to give up such agencies. What can you do without 
them in such a place as Kolapoor ? Those good men [the 
Deputation] have not faith enough. "Why can they not 
trust God, and the experience and conviction of their breth- 
ren who have already toiled in this work so many years ?" 
This large-hearted Christian always gave us $30 a year for 
our schools in Kolapoor, and when they were suppressed by 
the Deputation, he kindly offered to increase his subscrip- 
tion, if that would avail, and even give $100 or $200 at 
once to start them again. 

F. L. Yonge, Esq., another contributor, and one who ob- 
served the working and influence of our schools for years, 
writes : '• I think it a thousand pities that your schools 
should be given up." 

Edwin Checkley, Esq., inclosing Bs. 50 for our schools at 
Kolapoor, writes: "I can not express how very greatly I 
sympathize in your feelings regarding the very great mis- 
take made by your Deputation in closing your schools." 

Similar letters of sympathy came to us from many Euro- 
pean friends scattered over Western India, most of them en- 
tirely unsolicited, the facts in the case being known because 
our previous agencies were known, and all .changes by the 



TESTIMONY OF EUROPEAN FRIENDS. 281 

Deputation were manifest to all around us. Each mission 
in India is a city set on a hill, and can not be hid. The 
doings of the Deputation became known to the public press, 
and hence when permission came from the Prudential Com- 
mittee to resume our schools at Kolapoor, the Bombay Guar- 
dian of July 5, 1856, in a leading editorial says : " We 
rejoice to learn that the Prudential Committee of the 
A.B.C.F.M., have restored to the Eev. E.-Gr. Wilder, mis- 
sionary at Kolapoor, the liberty of having schools, which 
was taken away from him on occasion of the visit of the 
Deputation to this country. This gives us pleasure quite in- 
dependent of any opinion we may entertain as to the value 
of schools to a mission. We think that a missionary, about 
whose fitness to be a missionary there can be no question, 
should be allowed to adopt such modes of labor as he con- 
scientiously, and after due experience, believes to be the best 
for him in his circumstances. It is certain that if he be hin- 
dered from laboring in the way that he regards -as the most 
suitable, if there be no margin left for his own convictions, 
and the teachings of his own experience, he will occupy a 
position unbecoming a missionary of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
If the aim be to degrade the calling of the missionary, and 
reduce him to the standing of a mere agent of a missionary 
Board, then let him be subjected to a code of rules and 
regulations ; let him be told, not merely what he is to do, 
but in what mode he is to do it. 

" B.ut the true idea of a missionary is, that he is one 
whom the Head of the Church hath called, qualified, and 
sent forth ; and so long as he is viewed as a missionary, his 
convictions of duty must be respected." As to the best 
agencies : u Who is fittest to decide ? He that is acquainted 
with his field by personal labors performed in it for years, 
acquainted with the character and customs of those among 
whom his lot is cast, informed by experience of the par- 
ticular difficulties he has to encounter, he or the Secretary 
of the Society, who may indeed, pay a flying visit to the 
foreign field on Deputation, but whose years are spent in 
a land of churches and Bibles?" 



282 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

" What made the prohibition laid on Mr. Wilder the 
more surprising was, that he asked no allowance from the 
funds of the Board for his schools, but was prepared to 
carry them on by the aid of Christians in this country, who 
approve of this mode of evangelistic labor." 

J. T. Molesworth Esq., author of our invaluable dictiona- 
ries of the Mahratta language, a profound scholar and emi- 
nent Christian, expressing his grief for the loss of these 
schools, writes : " I am distressed beyond measure that 
good men should have been left to make such mistakes." 
And again : "I had the pleasure of seeing in the last 
Bombay Guardian, that permission has been granted, (alas! 
that man should be found audacious enough to refuse per- 
mission,) for the restoration of your Kolapoor vernacular 
schools." " To restore things not merely abandoned bnt ab- 
jured, is difficult; but you will do your best, and He to 
whom powpr belongeth, (Ps. 62 : 11,) will prosper you. I 
have much pleasure in sending yon. Rs. 100 to help you at 
the outset." 

The Oriental Christian Spectator, an able periodical pub- 
lished at Bombay, says, June, 1857: "Mr. Wilder has 
proved a most faithful and able missionary while in the 
midst of us. He was for several years stationed at Ah- 
mednuggur in the Deccan. Of the Kolapoor Mission, the 
latest report of which we insert in this number of our 
periodical, he has been the father and founder, laying, by 
wise educational and other evangelistic measures, a- good 
foundation for the time to come, and on which we trust, 
he icill in after-years be spared to build? 

" And this will we do, if God permit." (Heb. 6 : 3.) 



OHAPTEE yil. 

CHARACTER AND RESULTS OF MISSION SCHOOLS IN OUR 
CEYLON MISSION. 

Ceylon, the ancient Taprobane, is an island at the south- 
ern extremity of India, some 300 miles long by 170 wide. 
Its population in 1831 was 950,917, of whom 20,656 were 
slaves. The Cingalese are most numerous, especially in the 
interior and southern portions of the island, while in the 
northern and eastern portions the Tamil race prevails. 

The natural resources of the island are abundant, and it 
famished a very extensive commerce to the nations of West- 
ern Asia as early as the sixth century. It was lost sight 
of during the dark ages, but the Portuguese discovered it in 
1505, and for a century gradually increased their possessions 
upon it, and were then supplanted, in the first half of the 
seventeenth century, by the Dutch. The first aggression 
of the English on this island dates from 1782, and in four- 
teen years they entirely supplanted the Dutch. In 1803 
they came in conflict with the native government, and as 
early as 1815 gained possession of the whole island. 

During the successive reigns of the Portuguese and the 
Dutch, the Roman and Protestant religions had been intro- 
duced and propagated by the influence and power of the 
state, but the British treaty provided that the old religious 
rites and superstitions of the natives should be- inviolably 
protected and maintained by the government, and hence 
Christianity, both Roman and Protestant, soon became al- 
most extinct. 



284: MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Feb. 24th, 1813, there embarked a lone stranger from the 
Isle of France, and directed his course to Ceylon. He was 
a man of affliction. His earthly hopes had been dashed, 
and he had drained the cup of sorrow to its dregs. But on 
his thoughtful countenance there. was stamped a purpose in 
unison with that of Him who came from heaven to earth to 
die for man, and in his eye there shone the light and glow 
of a holy enthusiasm. He was a voluntary exile from this, 
his native land, and the Governor- General of India had 
made him a forced exile from the territory of the Hon. 
East-India Company. That cruel order of the Governor, 
which drove him from Calcutta, by the discomforts of a 
hasty and untimely voyage, consigned his beloved wife and 
child to their martyr-graves; and now, having deposited 
their precious dust with many tears on that lone isle of the 
ocean, Samuel Newell turned back to seek his companions 
in toil and persecution, and soon landed at Colombo. He 
did not find bis associates in Ceylon. Hall and Nott were 
at Bombay, prosecuting that noble struggle which, with 
God's blessing, ended in breaking up the exclusive policy 
of the East-India Company, and letting in the light of God's 
truth upon the degraded millions of India. 

Newell remained, teaching and preaching Christ, some 
ten months at Colombo, and then joined his brethren at 
Bombay. But this event was the starting-point of the Cey- 
lon mission of the A.B.C.F.M. The representations of New- 
ell to the American Board availed, and Messrs. Warren, 
Eichards, Meigs, and Poor were sent out to establish a mis- 
sion in Ceylon. They reached the island March 22, 1816, 
and established themselves in the district of Jaffna early the 
following October. This district, some 40 miles long, by 
15 broad, consists of a cluster of islands at the northern 
extremity of Ceylon, with a population of 147,671, mostly 
of the Tamil race. Sharing the favor of the British govern- 
ment under the influence of Governor Brownrigg, the com- 
mencement of their mission was auspicious. 



FIRST REVIVAL IN THE SCHOOLS. 285 

Chief Interest oentres in the Schools. 

Among the earliest notices of their labors we read of 
"ten or twelve boys" who became pupils, "and began to 
learn the English alphabet." " Early in December teachers 
were engaged to open schools under the superintendence of 
the missionaries." In 1817 the progress and brightening 
hopes of the mission are found to centre in their schools. 
" In October the weekly meeting with the school-masters 
and others, for prayer and personal conversation on religion, 
was commenced," and a boarding-school opened, " with teu 
or twelve of their most promising boys." 

The first notice of a hopeful conversion is recorded of one 
of these pupils. " He appeared deeply interested in divine 
truth, and in a short time declared his belief in Christianity, 
and his desire to embrace it publicly, at any sacrifice." 

The missionaries became so deeply impressed with the 
value of these schools that the progress and enlargement of 
the mission is uniformly marked by their increase. 

In 1818 Mr. Poor had eight free schools under his care, 
with four hundred pupils, and a boarding-school of twenty- 
four. " Mr. Meigs had five schools, and was about to open 
two more." Their Sabbath audiences were composed of the 
pupils, with such of their parents and friends as the presence 
of the children induced to come. 

In 1819, though the mission was weakened by the failure 
of health, "still, the schools were carried on and enlarged. 
There were fifteen free schools, with seven hundred • schol- 
ars." " There was also a boarding-school at each station," 
with " forty-eight boys and girls." The " good influence" 
of these schools " was manifest, and the mission entreated 
for funds for the extension of the system." 

First Revival in the Schools. 

This year witnessed the first revival in that favored mis- 
sion, and it seems to have been confined entirely to the 
schools. Its first converts were Gabriel Tissera and Nicho- 
las Permander, two heathen teachers, who had been taken 



286 MISSION SCHOOLS, 

into service at the commencement of the mission, i There 
were some who gave evidence of piety at eacli of the stations, 
and several of the boys in the schools were subjects of spe- 
cial seriousness." The mission was reinforced at the close 
of this year by Messrs. "VVinslow, Spaulding, Woodward, 
and Scudder. 

In 1820 "pecuniary embarrassments crippled the mis- 
sion," and the British government interdicted any further 
reinforcements. Still, "the number of boarding scholars 
was enlarged, and several new free schools were opened," 
and " the convicting and sanctifying influences of the Holy 
Spirit were manifestly present." 

In 1821 " the want of funds was severely felt, and several 
of the free schools were discontinued for a time." But the 
record of the }^ear gives four boarding-schools, with 72 boys 
and 15 girls, and twenty- four free schools with 1117 boys 
and 86 girls. The strong prejudice and opposition of the 
heathen had broken up one of the girls' schools, and the 
missionaries say : "It was doing much, therefore, to have 
51 girls in school." 

Second Revival. 

This year the mission enjoyed its second precious revival. 
" On .the 22d of April, two boys from the boarding-school 
at Tillipally were received as members of the Church." 
" On the last evening in June four girls came to Mr. Poor, 
in distress on account of their sinfulness, and anxious to 
know what they must do to be saved." Scarcely had they 
left when Nicholas came to ask how he should converse 
with those who were anxious about their souls. Among 
the pupils the seriousness increased, and at an inquiry-meet- 
ing soon after, twenty or thirty were present, and several 
expressed hopes in Christ. " On the evening of the 28d, 
(July,) seven girls came, with earnest inquiries after the way 
of salvation. Early in August four were added to the 
Church;" and in December a servant and two boarding- 
girls were received into the Church. Three of the first 
converts, who had been brought under saving influences bv 



BATTICOTTA AND OODOOVILLE SEMINARIES. 287 

being employed as teachers, were licensed to preach the 
Gospel. 

In 1822 the special utility of the schools appears in the 
active efforts of the pupils, both boys and girls, to make 
known the truth to their parents and neighbors. The same 
appears in the first Christian marriage. This took place be- 
tween two pupils, Daniel Smead and Miranda Safford, and 
the parties being of different castes, (the Yellale and Chanda,) 
it furnished a severe test of the influence of the schools, and 
of their value in the estimation of the natives. " The hea- 
then thought that the new religion was indeed fitted to turn 
the world upside down," but " the immediate effect on the 
cause of female education was decidedly favorable." 

Origin of the Batticotta and OodooviUe Seminaries. 

In 1828 the progress of the mission is still marked by 
"an increase of the number of schools and pupils." The 
missionaries became so deeply impressed with the value of 
educational agencies that they resolved to establish a "mis- 
sion college." "The immediate objects proposed were: 

"1. To impart a thorough knowledge of the English lan- 
guage, as the only way to unlock the treasures which that 
language contains. 

"2. The cultivation of Tamil literature, which is neces- 
sary in order to oppose idolatry successfully, and in order 
to raise up a reading population. 

" 3. The study of Sanscrit by a select few, from among 
those who may be designed for native preachers. 

"4. To teach Hebrew, and in some cases, Latin and 
Greek, to those native preachers who may be employed as 
translators of the Scriptures. 

"5. To teach, as far as the circumstances of the country 
require, the sciences usually studied in the Colleges of 
Europe and America." 

This " seminary was put into operation as a central school, 
at Batticotta, under the care of Mr. Poor, on the 22d of 
July. It was opened with twenty-six scholars, selected from 



288 MISSION SCHOOLS, 

the boarding-schools." This number soon increased to 
forty-seven. 

"A central school for girls was opened at Oodooville, 
under the care of Mrs. Winslow." It commenced with 
twenty -two girls, and soon had twenty-nine. 

Thus each year and each revival increased the convictions 
of the missionaries as to the value of these schools, and 
therefore they enlarged and improved them. 

Third Revival in the Schools. 

1824. — This year a third and more powerful revival in 
these schools attests the marked approval and special bless- 
ing of God upon them. We find they had fifty free schools, 
with some two thousand pupils, and two hundred boarding 
scholars. 

The revival commenced in the boarding-school at Tilli- 
pally, on the 18th of January. Mr. Woodward first noticed 
that some of the boys were much affected during the morn- 
ing service. He appointed other meetings, and the next 
day sent for Mr. Winslow. He came, " and found seven or 
eight of the boys manifesting much anxious concern for 
their spiritual welfare, and others more or less serious. 
Most of them belonged to the boarding -school." " The Spirit 
of God seemed evidently present." 

"The disposition to serious and anxious inquiry contin- 
ued to increase till all the members of the school, (about 
forty in number,) the domestics of the family, and two or 
three heathen schoolmasters were among the inquirers. The 
result was, that most of the older boys, and two girls, gave 
pleasing evidence of a change of character." 

The very next Sabbath a like blessing came down upon 
the girls' boarding-school at Oodooville. While Mr. Wins- 
low was addressing them, " some were much affected, and 
tears began to flow from those unused to weep." 

Other meetings followed ; deep convictions took hold upon 
the hearts of the pupils, " and the Lord graciously caused 
the work to proceed, until no one in the school remained 
wholly unaffected." 



THIRD REVIVAL IX THE SCHOOLS. 289 

The next development of the revival was in the monthly 
prayer-meeting at Batticotta, Feb. 2d. " We had scarcely 
assembled in the afternoon and sung a hymn, when the Holy 
Spirit seemed to fill all the place where we were together. 
The brother who was leading in prayer was so much over- 
whelmed with a sense of the Divine presence, that he could 
scarcely proceed. The same influence was felt by all, and 
the afternoon was spent in prayer, interrupted only by a 
few passages read from the Scriptures, and by singing and 
weeping." 

"The next Sabbath," a precious season was enjoyed at 
Manepy. " When, in the afternoon, the children and youth 
of the boarding-schools of that and the other stations came 
together, an affecting scene was exhibited. Many were in 
tears. More than thirty expressed a desire to forsake all for 
Christ. The Lord carried on the work, till, in a school con- 
sisting of about forty -five boys, many of whom were young, 
nearly half professed themselves to be the Lord's." 
. A still more special blessing was enjoyed at Panditeripo, 
commencing February 12th. ''After the boys had gone to 
their room, and were about to lie down to sleep, WTielpley, 
( a native member of the church,) was induced to exhort them 
most earnestly to flee from the wrath to come. They were 
roused and could not sleep. By little companies they went 
out into the garden to pray, and the voice of supplication 
was soon heard in every quarter. It waxed louder and 
louder, each one, or each company, praying and weeping as 
though all were alone. More than thirty were thus engaged 
in a small garden. The cry was, ' What shall I do to be 
saved ?' and ' Lord, send thy spirit.'" "The next day they 
seemed to be earnestly seeking for the salvation of their 
souls. More than twenty, at that pluce, indulged the hope 
that they had obtained the forgiveness of their sins." . 

In the farther progress of the work in the seminary at 
Batticotta, it is stated that "about ten of the youths expressed 
a determination to forsake all for Christ, and scarcely one in 
the school was altogether unmoved." " Of the subjects of 
this revival, . . in all sixty-nine, were thought, in March, 
13 



290 MISSION SCHOOLS, 

to give some evidence of a change of heart The special in- 
terest continued through the summer. At times, nearly all 
the members of the boarding-schools, and many others, 
avowed more or less anxiety for the salvation of their souls ; 
but it was almost wholly confined to those whose long ac- 
quaintance with the mission, either as pupils, as teachers, or 
servants in their employment, or as neighbors, had given 
them some knowledge of Christian truth," 

Fourth Revival in the Schools. 

In October of this year, the mission enjoyed another gra- 
cious visitation of the Holy Spirit upon the youth gathered 
in their schools. Mr. Winslow writes : " The year closed, 
as it began, with a revival. The last two months have been 
a time of silent, but we trust, effectual operation of the Holy 
Spirit on many hearts." After mentioning some special 
cases of conversion among the pupils, he adds : "Many of 
the [heathen] school-masters also, at the different statious, are 
more or less serious, and eight or ten may be said to appear 
well. Of the lads in the central school, and the children in 
the boarding-schools, several have of late hopefully passed 
from death unto life." 

What more positive testimony is possible to the value of 
these schools than is famished in the history of these re- 
vivals ? Is it possible for Grod to give the seal of his ap- 
proval and blessing to such schools more unequivocally than 
he has here done ? Who can wonder that the missionaries 
came to value these schools as the right arm of their strength ? 
Who can wonder that the old missionaries, who knew their 
history, and had witnessed these showers of God's grace and 
mercy upon them, clung to them till they were suppressed 
by the Deputation, and then mourned over their ruins with 
many tears, and bitter and touching lamentations ? 

The year 1825 "opened joyfully." " 59 free schools con, 
tained 2414 boys and 255 girls, taught by 58 masters ; and 
in the boarding-schools were 126 boys and 31 girls, making 
in all, 2824 pupils from among the heathen. Several of the 
teachers had become pious, [all were heathen teachers at first, 



FOURTH liEVIVAL IN THE SCHOOLS. 291 

and most were still heathen^] and with the more advanced 
scholars, assisted greatly in the missionary work. The cen- 
tral school at Batticotta, which was intended as the germ of a 
college, was highly useful, and received the decided appro- 
bation of statesmen and divines in different parts of India ; 
insomuch that about $1800 was subscribed for it in Calcutta, 
and considerable sums at Madras and in Ceylon." 

The fruits of the precious revivals in the schools during 
1824:, were gathered into the Church in larger numbers this 
year. On the 20th of January, forty-one were received into 
the Church, in the presence of some twelve hundred to fifteen 
hundred people. Of these forty-one converts the mission- 
aries say: "Thirty -six belonged to our charity boarding-schools, 
and five were from among the people." " Eight more were 
admitted to the Church" on the 21st of July. 

The second revival of 1824 continued with much special 
interest through 1825, and is spoken of by the missionaries 
as the fourth revival in their schools. Near the close of this 
year, December 20, Dr. Scudder writes : " There was scarce 
a careless boy in the school at Batticotta. Dwight and JSTiles, 
two members of that school, came to Tillipally, and exhorted 
and prayed with the pupils there, and a few days afterwards 
eighteen of the boys were found to be seriously attentive 
to religion." 

In 1826, we find both the missionaries and the officers of 
the Board regretting that the British government would 
allow no more American missionaries to settle in Ceylon, 
and no college unless under British instructors. " This de- 
cision, however, did not defeat the main object of the under- 
taking. It was still possible to sustain a school of a very 
high order, which should give an education nearly or quite 
equal to a collegiate course. Encouraged by liberal subcrip- 
tions in India, and by favorable opinions both there and in 
America, the brethren erected buildings " and persevered in 
their general purpose. The Batticotta Seminary, as it was 
called, had fifty-three students, of whom twenty-two were 
members of the church, "and its influence was highly grati- 
fying;." Eighteen more students were received into the 



292 ' ' ••" MISSIOK SCHOOLS. 

seminary from the preparatory schools, and the value of the 
schools and their influence' in conciliating the good will of 
the people, are attested by the fact that there were two or 
three times as many candidates for vacancies, as the mission- 
aries could receive. 

1827 "was a year of quiet and silent progress." '• There 
were 93 free schools, containing 3378 boys and 942 girls." 
The seminary had 67 students, of whom 24 were church 
members, and the whole number of pupils under instruction 
was 4500. 

In 1828 "from want of funds it was found necessary to 
give up a few of the free schools, several of which were 
transferred to the" Church Missionary Society. A class of 
15 left the seminary, having completed their course of study, 
and a class of 29 entered the preparatory school, selected 
from not less than 200 applicants, whose claims were 
clamorously urged by their relatives and friends. What a 
change since the time when it was difficult to procure a 
single pupil ! 

In 1829 " the system of schools was steadily accomplishing 
its work, laying broad and deep the foundations of future 
success. The whole number under instruction was 3436. 
Their improved system of education was attracting the at- 
tention of all orders of men. The seminary, especially, was 
made to bear powerfully on the question whether the Brah- 
manical religion is true." This it did by teaching the facts 
of true science, geography, astronomy, etc. A celebrated 
Hindu astronomer, Yesuvenather, calculated an eclipse of 
the moon by his Hindu tables. He differed from the calcu- 
lation of the missionaries fifteen minutes in the time of its 
commencement, two eighths of the moon's disk in extent, 
and twenty -four minutes in its duration. The minds of the 
natives were excited, and many predicted a great triumph 
for Hinduism. The eclipse came, and verified the calcula- 
tion of the missionaries — a heavy blow to the claims of the 
Brahmans, and an equal triumph in favor of the mission- 
aries. 



SIXTH REVIVAL IX THE SCHOOLS. 293 



Fifth Kevival in the Schools. 

In 1830 (October) commenced the fifth revival in the mis- 
sion schools, and it " increased in power and interest to the 
end of the year. Nearly all the students in the mission 
seminary were more or less awakened ; evident tokens of 
the Divine presence were seen in the boarding-schools at all 
the stations, and many of the [heathen] teachers and super- 
intendents of free schools received deep religious impres- 
sions." 

1831. — The revival in the schools continued into this year, 
and 63 were received into the Church as the fruits of it. 
The 170 native members were now divided into five 
churches — one at each station. Of the 93 teachers of free 
schools, some 30 had become members of the Church, and 
two of the early converts were licensed to preach. If any 
doubt the propriety of employing " heathen teachers" let them 
mark the result in this mission. 

1832 was a " good year" The schools prospered ; 27 per- 
sons were received to church fellowship, and the Governor 
gave leave for additional missionaries from America. 

In 1833 the permission of the British Government was 
gladly welcomed by the Board, and a reinforcement of five 
missionaries, Messrs. Todd, Hutchings, Hoisington, Apthorp, 
and Ward, with their wives, were sent to Ceylon. 

Sixth Revival in the Schools. 

In 1834 two new stations were established. " The whole 
number of children and youth under instruction, including 
121 in the seminary, was 5367." "But the great event of 
■ the year was the commencement of another revival " in the 
mission schools. It commenced at Batticotta, and " soon 
spread to all the stations." 

1835. — The chief power and results of this revival were 
developed this year. " Every member of the seminary ap- 
peared to be deeply impressed with the truth and impor- 
tance of vital piety, and a considerable number appeared to 
become truly penitent," In March, fifteen students of the 



294 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

seminary and two others were received to the church, and 
there were some twelve other candidates. The work soon 
spread to the girls' boarding-school at Oodooville, and 
proved " remarkably rapid and powerful, indicating that its 
subjects had very clear views of their duty, before they 
were thus awakened to perform it." " Eleven girls of the 
boarding-school, and two others, were received into the 
Church in March/' and there were more candidates. 

At Tillipally, "in a short time 20 gave evidence of a 
change of heart, and 13 were added to the church." " The 
whole number added to the church in March was 51, of 
whom 48 were received at one meeting at Batticotta. The 
admissions during the year were 76." 

Seventh Revival in the Schools. 

A seventh revival commenced in the Batticotta Seminary, 
in November of this year, in which " eighty -five professed 
their resolution to follow Christ." At the same time a pre- 
cious blessing came down upon the Oodooville school, and 
several, of the girls were converted. 

The special value of these schools appears very distinctly 
in these successive revivals. In no other conceivable way 
could such masses of heathen minds have been brought 
under stated teaching in the very focus of Christian truth, 
and impregnated with it, so as to have become prepared for 
the descent of the Spirit and his gracious operations in their 
rapid conviction and conversion. So long as human agen- 
cies are owned and blessed of God, we can not fail to ap- 
prove the wisdom which devised and sustained these mis- 
sion schools. The seal of Cod's own blessing is upon them. 

Eighth Kevival in the Schools. 

In 1836, another precious revival marks the favor and 
blessing of Cod upon the schools of this mission. It com- 
menced in the girls' boarding-school at Oodoovillo. With 
no previous indications of the Spirit's presence, the mission- 
ary was aroused from his sleep at night by the voice of 



EIGHTH REVIVAL IN TTIE SCHOOLS. 295 

some one in distress, and on going to the verandah, found 
it to be " the voice of prayer and weeping." In a few mo- 
ments one of the girls came, saying : " We want some one 
to come and talk and pray with us." The voice of weeping, 
prayer, and singing did not cease till one or two o'clock in 
the morning, and some had little or no sleep during the 
night. Special meetings continued for days, and at the 
close of one of them, " when the last girl prayed it seemed 
that it was not her prayer, but the prayer of the Holy 
Spirit, as if some other person was speaking." The mis- 
sionary writes : "More deep feeling and fervent wrestling 
prayer, I never witnessed. The last thing I heard at night, 
and the first in the morning, was the voice of prayer and 
praise." 

One of the pupils speaking of the revival and of that par- 
ticular prayer, writes : " Her prayer was as when a miserable 
beggar pleads with a rich man, or as when a child entreats 
favor of a parent, or as when a person agonizes for a friend 
who is about to be hung. When she had closed her prayer, 
some of us "were exceedingly agitated and were unable to 
speak, for we saw all our sins and defects. Then some of 
us had a thought, namely, that we could not expect peace 
of mind until we had called some of the older girls who 
did not seek Jesus Christ with all their hearts, and seriously 
talked with them. We, however, concluded that we must 
first acknowledge our own faults and ask forgiveness of 
Grod, and then call the girls and speak with them. After 
we had done according to this our determination, we called 
up those who were asleep, and conversed with them. At 
that time they were aroused to anxiety about their souls. 
For this we praise the Lord. From that day to this they 
lift up their voice in prayer to Grod day and night. We do 
not believe there is one girl in the school who does not thus 
pray." 

This revival extended to the other schools, and of the 
thirty -nine received to the Church this year, most were from 
the Batticotta Seminary. 



290 MISSION SCHOOLS. 



Value of the Schools. 



We do not wonder that these frequent revivals deeply 
impressed the minds of the missionaries with the value of 
these schools. These gracious harvests were manifestly the 
result of seed sown in soil well prepared. The minds of 
these pupils had been long under Christian teaching and im- 
pregnated with Christian truth ; hence when the rain of 
heaven came, the seed of the word sprang up unto life 
eternal. What right have we to expect such harvests 
where the soil is not thus cultivated? 

Of the girls' boarding-school at Oodooville, the mission- 
aries recorded their estimate this year as follows : 

"God has in a singular manner blessed this school from 
its commencement. Not one who has completed a full course 
in the school has left without giving evidence of decided 
piety, a fact which should call forth expressions of grati- 
tude from all the friends of missions. The whole number 
of those who have completed a regular course of study is 
thirty ; all of whom are married to pious young men, most 
of whom are in mission service. Of the seventy -five who 
remain, thirty or more give decided evidence of piety. Of 
those who have left the school it should be remarked that 
not one has disgraced her profession. In several instances 
where their husbands have fallen into sin, . . they have 
been the means in the hands of Grocl of leading them back 
to the fold. 

" This institution is viewed with interest, not only when 
in contrast with the surrounding population, but in view of 
the bearings it may have on future generations. Having 
enjoyed the advantages of a Christian education, and hav- 
ing been brought to taste the love of Jesus, they can but 
feel a deep interest in the welfare of their offspring, as well 
as their relations and neighbors in general. A desire for 
the salvation of their heathen parents often leads them to 
the throne of grace, and often makes them sad." 



THE SAD GIRL. 297 



The Sad Girl. 

Of the anxiety of these educated and converted children 
for the salvation of their parents, take the following in- 
stance, which occurred in this same revival : 

One of the girls was asked how she felt. Her reply was 
that she was "sad." " Why? have you any difficulty with 
the girls? do they not behave well?" "Yes, they behave 
well." " Then have you not joy on their account ?" " Yes." 
" Why then are you sad ?" " My parents," she replied, and 
tears choked her utterance. " She loved Jesus, but her pa 
rents were idolaters. Such persons need the pra}^ers and 
sympathies of the friends of the blessed Jesus in our favor- 
ed land." 

Speaking of their heathen teachers the missionaries say : 
" Our school-masters are generally men of respectability, and 
of good caste ; the majorhVy of them are heathen ; a large 
number, however, have become hopefully pious." 

This year (1836) closed with 155 free schools, containing 
6272 pupils, of whom 994 were girls. 

The whole number of pupils educated in the free schools 
of the mission from its commencement, (20 years,) was esti- 
mated at 15,500. In the Batticotta Seminary were 166 
students. A class of 46 being admitted, were selected from 
ISO candidates, of whom "at least 50 rejected applicants 
were as well fitted as the class admitted the year before; 
showing that the desire for admission was raising the stand- 
ard of education." 

Of the graduates of the seminary " 57 were in the em- 
ployment of the American missions, ten were employed by 
other missions, and twenty-two were in the service of gov- 
ernment." 

The whole number which had graduated up to this time, 
or left without completing the full course, was 147. 

" To show the Christian influence of the seminary on lads 
and youth who when they entered were nearly all heathen, 
it may be mentioned that of those who frave left (147) 81 
had made a public profession of their faith in Christ, and 



298 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

been received to the Church before leaving. Most of them 
have continued to conduct themselves in a manner consist- 
ent with their profession." 

Which of our American colleges has shared a larger 
blessing than this ? Of which of them can we find a larger 
proportion of graduates turning away from secular pursuits 
and entering upon the special service of Christ ? Ought not 
such institutions on heathen ground to be generously sup- 
ported, and become embalmed in the affection, sympathy, 
and prayers of the people of God ? 

Ninth Kevival in the Schools. 

1837. — The previous year had closed with marked reli- 
gious interest in the schools. Of a day of fasting and pray- 
er the missionary writes : "It has been an uncommonly 
interesting season in the seminary. There are indications 
that the Lord is with us indeed. May his presence be glo- 
riously manifest." 

Of the monthly prayer-meeting he saj^s : "I was still 
more encouraged, and could not but feel that the Lord was 
at hand." " There are several who declare themselves 
ready to live for God and Christ. Some we have good 
reason to believe are converted. To God be all the glory." 
" We do not doubt but that the judgment-day will disclose 
much fruit to the praise of God's abounding grace." 

But the special revival of this year occurred in May and 
June, and as heretofore, its special fruits appeared in the 
schools. In the Batticotta seminary were " twelve or fif- 
teen" hopefal conversions, and " at Oodooville, sixteen were 
afterwards admitted to the Church, as the fruits of this 
gracious visitation." The whole number received during 
the year was 46. 

Notice of Magee, a converted Pupil. 

This brief notice of one of the converts, was prepared by 
a school-mate in the seminary, and its correctness attested 
by the missionaries. It is given here, not for any thing re- 



NOTICE OF MAGEE, A CONVERTED PUPIL. 299 

markable in itself, but to illustrate the readiness with which 
the minds of the pupils came under the influence of Christ- 
ian truth, and their fidelity in making it known to their 
parents and friends. 

" Before Magee entered the seminary he was an opposer 
of Christ and his religion. He entered the seminary in 
October, 1835. His mind was soon changed, so that dur- 
ing his first vacation, he talked with his parents, and told 
them : ' The gods whom we have worshipped to this time 
are false, and it is dangerous to believe in them.' He 
spake many words against the religion of his parents. ' If 
you,' he added, ' continue in this state, you can not get to 
heaven, but must go to hell.' To prove this he read a por- 
tion of Scripture, and then entreated them, saying : ' Believe 
Christ ; follow him. If you do so, you may enjoy heaven.' 
His parents replied : ' Son, it is not lawful for you to revile 
our gods, whom, till this time, we have worshipped and be- 
lieve.' Magee declared his purpose to believe in Christ, and 
to join the Christian Church. At this time his father was 
displeased and forbid him doing it for the present, saying : 
' If you leave the worship of Siva, and embrace this new 
religion, our relations will forsake us, and the people will 
mock us. If you wish to become a Christian, you may do 
it after you have left the seminary and become older. You 
are a little boy, you need not join the Church now,' etc. 
With these things in mind, Magee returned to the semi- 
nary, having no further argument with his father. He 
soon after joined the Church, of which he informed his fa- 
ther by a letter. The father read the letter, and reported 
the same to his mother. The next vacation Magee feared 
to go home, and took refuge with a school-master near by. 
The master took him to his father's house. His parents 
would not at first speak to him, and exhibited strong marks 
of displeasure. Soon the boy's uncle came in with a stick 
in his hand. The boy seeing this fled to the school-master, 
who still remained there. The school-master seized the 
stick and prevented the beating of the boy. Magee spoke 
to them so mildly as to assuage their anger. His parents 



300' MISSION SCHOOLS. 

then told him that henceforth he should live with the mis- 
sionaries, and should never see their faces. According to 
their word, he never returned to them, but before another 
vacation went to dwell with Jesus Christ, whom the mis- 
sionaries preach." 

Conversion of a Girl in a Free School. 

This account was written by herself at the request of one 
of the missionaries, "and may show," he remarks, "the in- 
fluence of our native free schools." 

" I have four sisters and one beloved brother. My father 
gave my two older sisters their down r , and married them to 
heathens. Both they and we then worshipped devils, and 
were on the way to hell. At that time a teacher of the 
Christian religion (missionary) came and asked my father 
to send his children to school. Though he told the mission- 
ary that he would send them, still, as soon as he was gone 
he said to us : ' Well, after I am dead, let it go as it may, 
but while I am alive you shall not go beyond the gate.' As 
I was desirous of learning, I used to beg my grandmother to 
go with me to the school. She promised, but deceived me. 
After that, the cholera came, and both my father and mo- 
ther died in one day. As we four children were small, we 
could not live alone, so we went to our grandfather. Our 
grandparents loved us more than their own children, and 
instead of neglecting us, sold their own property to support 
us. After that, Grod was our father and mother, and caused 
my younger sister and brother to be taught in the mission 
schools. Though I was very desirous of learning, still they 
would not let me go, on account of my age. I learned my 
alphabet, however, of my sisters, at night, in leisure mo- 
ments. 

""After that, by the grace of Grod, I went to a school, 
learned as fast as I could, and became even the monitor to 
those who had been in the school before me, and in about 
six months I could read readily. After that, I read Mat- 
thew, Mark, Luke, John, and the Acts of the Apostles, and 
was much struck with the miracles and wonders which Je- 



CONVERSION OF A GIRL IN A FREE SCHOOL. 8<>1 

sus Christ had done. In consequence of the joy of mind 
which was given me, I meditated on that I had read, and 
committed to memory by day and by night, while in the 
house and by the way, committing in one month three or 
four hundred verses. 

" About that time all the people began to speak about the 
wonderful fact, that a man had cut off his tongue at Skanda 
Swamy's temple, and still lived. They praised their god, 
and said, 'The Grod of the missionaries is defeated, and 
our god has conquered ;' and all ran to see the wonder, and 
spoke of it to me. I was then in great distress, and cried 
out : • Alas ! what shall I do ? which Grod shall I worship ? 
I have put my feet into two boats,' (meaning one foot in 
each, and would of course fall into the sea between them.) 

" When I heard the missionary preach about the man 
who had cut off his tongue, I prayed, and said : ■ O Grod ! 
my Creator, I am a poor ignorant girl ; have mercy on me 
and save me.' In this way I obtained relief. 

" Mr. Woodward urged me to commence a school, though 
I should get only five children. I commenced accordingly, 
and collected about forty children. Not only this, I had a 
meeting once a week, and exhorted the women. After a 
short time, I' joined the Church, according to the command 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, not only I, but, including 
myself, four, two sisters and nry brother, belong to the 
Church. 

• "After that, in consequence of the death of our teacher 
who did so much for us, I was in great distress, and said : 
- Now who knows our poverty and will have compassion 
onus? Our father and mother are dead. Our property 
is spent, our relations cast us off, and our minister, who was 
our benefactor, is also dead! ' Thus for six m®ntks I sor- 
rowed and was like the stock of a tree, lying near the bank 
of a river, tossed by its waters. . . . 

'j In the mean time I wondered at the way in which I had 
been saved. As I had no guardians, I committed myself 
to the missionaries, and through their help I am safe. Were 
it not for this, I should have been lost like my companions. 






302 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

If my father and mother had lived, they would not have let 
me go to school. Though I had studied, still if I had had 
property, then that would have hindered me from teaching 
a scbool. It is very astonishing that God has delivered me 
from all these hindrances. Moreover, it is hard for a rich 
man to enter into the kingdom of God. Therefore I greatly 
rejoice, because it is better far us to be poor, and serve Jesus 
Christ, and be saved through him, than to be with our father 
and mother, or to be rich as my elder sisters are." 

To this account the missionary adds : " She is now mar- 
ried to a Christian husband, and has one child named Daniel. 
On the day when the child was baptized, I said to her : ' Why 
do you call its name Daniel ? Are you going to throw it 
into the den of lions ?' She replied : ' Yes, if that is the 
Lord's will.' " " She still continues to keep her school.'' 

Of the girls who had been educated in the schools up to 
this date, the missionaries say : " They already exert a good 
influence, and are mothers of more than 40 children, whom 
they train up in the fear of God, and in the knowledge of 
Jesus Christ. Several of these children are in our boarding- 
schools, and two are members of our church." 

With such evidence of the value of these schools, in the 
rich blessing of God upon them, w T e do not wonder that the 
mission enlarged them to the extent of their means. In 
July of this year, the schools were at the climax of their 
prosperity. Their " 187 free schools contained 6996 pu- 
pils." The seminary had 151 students, and the girls' board- 
ing-school 98. 

But the funds of the Board failed, and painful retrench- 
ment was unavoidable. With much grief the missionaries 
suspended all but 16 of their free schools, dismissed some 
of the pupils in the girls' boarding-school and the seminary, 
admitted no new class, and made other "painful retrench- 
ments." 

" The heathen triumphed. They said the mission was 
going down. Native church-members were discouraged, 
and *esisted ridicule, threats and temptation, less firmly." 



LAMENTATIONS OF THE MISSION. 808 

Lamentations of the Mission for the Keduction in their Schools. 

The year 1888 opened in gloom. The mission seemed 
clothed in sackcloth. The circular from the officers of the 
Board had reached them, requiring prompt and severe 
retrenchment. It was painful work, but there was no alter- 
native. Funds failed, and the expenses of the mission must 
be reduced, or the Board become bankrupt. The mission- 
aries entered upon this work of retrenchment with sad 
hearts. They sent away 45 students from the Batticotta 
Seminary, limiting its number to 100, and receiving no new 
class for two years. From the Oodooville school they sent 
away 8 girls, though with evident misgivings. In their let- 
ter to the Secretaries, they say: "We could not cut very 
deeply into that institution, without striking a destructive 
blow at the cause of female education and female piety in 
the land, and thus marring our highest hopes." They also 
turned away some of their native helpers, reduced their 
printing operations, and stopped the erection of buildings. 

But the reduction which grieved them most severely, was 
in their schools. They were obliged to abandon all but 16 
of their free schools, and thus to turn back more than 5000 
pupils into ignorance and heathenism. We do not wonder 
they wrote : " We have cut off the arms and limbs of our 
system, close to the trunk ! If we must cut to the amount 
of £100 more, it must be ' next the heart /' " 

In reply to the circular requiring these reductions, the 
mission sent a general letter, filled with touching lamenta- 
tions. The bitter grief of the missionaries at this emer- 
gency, shows their estimate of these schools more eloquently 
and impressively than their positive testimony in the strong- 
est language could have done. "Looking at the results as 
a whole," they write, " we see evils too great for human 
computation. In the work of changing the religion of a 
whole people like this, which involves an entire change of 
education, manners, and customs, and modes of thought and 
feeling, nothing is more important than a fixed impression 
on the minds of the community, of the permanence of those 
causes which are to bring about the change. 



304 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

"After many years of toil, our labors were resulting In a 
strong impression throughout the land, that the Christian 
religion would certainly prevail. And this impression, to a 
very great extent, was based on the conviction that the mis- 
sionaries would never give over ; that their means of influ- 
encing the community, and especially the rising generation, 
would never fail. And this impression was fast preparing 
the way for breaking over those bonds of caste, and clan- 
ship, and family, which, with a strength that can not be 
appreciated in America, bind the people to the religion of 
the land. The prophecies that the missionaries would by 
and by give up in discouragement, had been proved vain. 
Every year their cords were seen to be lengthening, and 
their stakes strengthening. But the blow which has been 
struck has weakened, every where, the strength of this im- 
pression. It has staggered the weak in faith in our churches, 
and taken away their confidence in the presence of opposers ; 
it has quieted uneasy consciences among the people ; it has 
caused the whole community to feel that what has been, 
may be only the precursor of greater reductions to come. 
This impression we meet with, constantly. We feel its in- 
fluence in almost every department of effort. In many cases 
it takes away the edge of our words. It often closes the 
mouths of our helpers. It is an evil which can not be writ- 
ten so as to be appreciated abroad, but it is an evil, disas- 
trous, not only to the progress of our cause generally, but 
also to the increase of true piety in the land. This, time 
and steady toil only, can remove. 

" The breaking up of our schools has been a grievous 
blow. On account of the pressure which we then began 
heavily to feel, we were driven to a temporary suspension 
of our schools in July last. We then made our retrench- 
ment in that department, because there was no other depart- 
ment of our labors which could so easily be resumed, after a 
temporary suspension. But it was with aching hearts that 
we turned 5000 children out into the wilderness of heathen- 
ism, to be exposed to the roaring lion, even for the short 
period of three or four months. It was painful to miss them 






LAMENTATIONS OF THE MISSION. 805 

at the house of God on the Sabbath, and on Tuesdays, when 
they were accustomed to come together to study and hear 
the word of God. So deeply did we come to feel the evils 
of this suspension, that when we came together at our annual 
meeting, it was a general feeling that, at almost auy sacrifice, 
we must resume the schools to an important extent. But 
we could not. We have left the children to wander. They 
hear not the word of God ; they come not to his house ; 
they study not the way of life ; their education is strictly 
heathen ; their minds are being filled with prejudice ; they 
are trained only in sin. 

u By the breaking up of the schools, the Sabbath congre- 
gation is almost broken up at a number of our stations. 
The children and masters formed the nucleus of the congre- 
gation. By the breaking up of our schools, one of the rods 
of our power is broken. No man who has not tried it can 
tell how difficult it is to bring the simplest truths of the Gos- 
pel into contact with the mind of an adult, trained from his 
earliest years in Hinduism. The rising generation, by a 
course of instruction, to a very important extent liberal, 
were getting Christian ideas in connection with language, 
and were being shut out from those heathenish associations 
with every important word, which prevent the adult from 
feeling the force of the preached truth. But we have no 
heart to dwell upon this point. Our children are no longer 
ours. They are almost certainly shut out from the way and 
the hope of heaven. 

"The results to the seminary, and the important Christian 
interests which cluster around that institution, are very pain- 
ful. For want of funds, we took no class at the regular time 
in October last. And our funds will not authorize the re- 
ception of a class the coming October. By this, the whole 
arrangement of the institution is necessarily thrown into dis- 
order, and it will take years to bring it to the previous state 
of regularity. There will now, necessarity, be a chasm of 
two or three years between the present fourth class and that 
which will succeed it. A year ago, in a printed card, we 
told the whole community that we should take a class of 



306 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

40 the then coming October, according to the terms of 
admission therein stated. In October we were compelled to 
say : ' For want of money, we can not fulfill our promise, 
but we shall be able to do it the year following.' But we 
can not do it, and a failure to do it will add new strength to 
the impression that the missionary efforts and means are de- 
clining, and may by and by cease. But this is not all. At 
the commencement of our annual meeting, we carefully ran 
over the list of students, with a view of selecting all who 
were so deficient in promise, either on account of scholar- 
ship, conduct or ability, that they might be dismissed with- 
out serious injury to the institution, or the general cause. 
Feeling our pressure, we numbered in that class some whom 
we would willingly have retained. We marked the names 
of 14. To these we have been compelled to add 30 more, 
making in all 44." "Among these are some lads of fine 
promise as to scholarship, and from the most influential 
families in the land. If they had continued with us, doubt- 
less many of them would, by the grace of God, have been 
truly converted, and thus been prepared to build up the 
Kedeemer's kingdom in the land. But they are now thrown 
back, with minds soured by disappointment, to grow up its 
strongest opposers. We could have wished the Christians 
in America could have turned aside for a day from buying 
and selling, and getting gain, to see these 44 boys, as they 
left the seminary, to go back to their heathen homes ! 

u But the loss of these is not the only loss. Through the 
strong desire waking up in the land for a knowledge of 
English, the seminary was fast coming to have the virtual 
control of the whole education of the district. By requiring 
a knowledge of our Christian books as the terms of admis- 
sion, we were securing the careful study of these, even by 
many not connected with mission schools. But our inabil- 
ity to take new classes for two successive years, together 
with the excision of so large a number already, has, to a 
great extent, cut off the hope of future admission. The con- 
sequence is, that scholars are leaving our English day-schools 
at the stations, some of which will probably be broken up. 



LAMENTATIONS OF THE MISSION. 807 

These schools, bringing boys daily under the eye and 
Christian instruction of the missionaries, are in a peculiar 
degree the nurseries of the Church. 

" We might go into the detail of many other painful par- 
ticulars ; but we will not. They have come upon us sud- 
denly, and we must bear them. We can not write them so 
thai they will be felt in America. If we could have fore- 
seen the coming blow, though grievous, it would not have 
been so destructive. It has come like a thunder-bolt, and 
compelled us, with but little time for deliberation, to break 
up or render inefficient, plans and operations, whose success, 
under Grod, depended mainly on their permanence." . . 

"In these circumstances, the reduction which the Com- 
mittee have been compelled to make, is well-nigh destruc- 
tion to your mission in Jaffna. We make no complaint. 
We see not how the Committee could have done otherwise. 
But, as the messengers of the churches, we ask the privilege 
of saying to the friends of missions in America : ' If you 
would not waste your money in the missionary work — if 
you would not waste the labors and the lives of }^our mis- 
sionaries in fruitless toil — if you would not do only to undo 
again, you must give a steady and unchanging support to your 
established missions. Better not establish a new mission for 
years, than throw one already established into a state of 
bankruptcy.' 

" We know the state of universal pecuniary distress 
which has visited our land. It is indeed unparalleled. We 
learn, too, with gratitude to Grod, that, even in that year of 
distress, the receipts of the Board exceeded those of former 
years. But, brethren, when, in your stead, we went down 
into the deep cavern, you told us that, come storm or come 
sunshine, you would never release your hold. And now, 
when after much toil, we have gathered around us many of 
those whom we were sent down to rescue, will you forsake 
us ? We plead not for ourselves. On that score we have- 
no anxiety. We plead for this dying people; that having 
begun to lead them in the way to heaven, you would not, for 
any worldly consideration, leave them to turn back to hell" 



80S "MISSION SCHOOLS. 

What praying man or woman can read over these tearful 
lamentations and touching appeals without deep and strong- 
sympathy ? Did not the failure of funds and the consequent 
abandonment of these schools involve a terrible calamity, 
over which those devoted missionaries did right to mourn ? 
And how can a man, who has been observant of the opera- 
tions of the American Board for the last twenty-two years, 
avoid the inquiry, What greater calamity was the breaking 
up of such schools in 1837-8 than in 1854-5 ? What great- 
er calamity in their being broken up for the ivant of funds 
than by the dictum of a Deputation, "clothed with full power 
and authority"? The schools which were broken up in the 
two cases were precisely alike in character and results. Was 
it not as sad to send Hindu children away from mission 
schools, an offering to the Hindu Moloch, in 1854, as it was 
in 1837 ? Was it not as sad to see them sent away by the 
mere caprice of erring man, as by the stern necessity in 
volved in the failure of funds ? 

Does any one fancy the circumstances of the case had 
changed? Impossible. The Batticotta Seminary of 1837 
was also the Batticotta Seminary of 1855. The failure of 
funds in 1837 sent away only forty-five of its students. The 
action of the Deputation in 1855 extinguished the institu- 
tion entirely. The Bombay high-school was like it in cha- 
racter, and this, too, was suppressed by the Deputation. 
Does any one fancy that want of funds led the Deputation 
to suppress these schools in 1854-5? Then why did they 
suppress schools which had never cost the home funds of 
the Board a farthing? Why did they "turn out into the 
great and terrible wilderness of the heathen world" five 
hundred children and youth under daily Christian instruc- 
tion, and that too when we plead for them with tears, and 
pledged ourselves that if they would only allow the con- 
tinuance of the schools, the}^ should never be any expense 
to the Board ? 

Ah i why is it, that the unavoidable abandonment of these 
schools in 1837, for want of funds, filled the periodicals of 
the Board with bitter lamentations, while their needless sup- 



FATHER SPAULDIKG'S LAMENT, 309 

pression in 1855 is passed over in silence, or gloried in as a 
shrewd stroke of policy ? 

And there were lamentations, too, in 1855. as tearful and 
touchiug as any in 1837. They may not find a place in the 
records of the American Board, but if the history of mis- 
sions records them not, she will be unfaithful to her trust. 
More touching lamentations never found utterance than 
some which were wrung from the hearts of long- tried and 
faithful missionaries — hearts torn and crushed by the mag- 
nitude of the evil which had come upon them. 

Father Spaulding's Lament. 

In view of the desolations caused in the Jaffna mission, 
in 1855, the touching lamentation of this dear devoted mis- 
sionary shall stand here as the representative of many ; ut- 
tered hesitatingly, tremblingly, in most cases, as if under 
some painful apprehensions, and yet uttered with a force 
and meaning that could not be repressed. 

Father Spaulding? is the oldest American missionary in 
Ceylon. Through some forty years of faithful labor there 
he has gathered up rich stores of personal experience and 
observation ; he had found the schools to be the right arm 
of his usefulness and power in the mission, and he could 
not see them suppressed, even by his best friends, without 
grief. Amidst the wreck and ruins of his schools and life- 
long labors, with a broken, stricken, grieving heart he gives 
utterance to his sorrow in patriarchal simplicity : " ' Joseph 
is not and Simeon is not. 1 Our village-schools are ragged schools. 
Our health is pining — our strength weakened — our church in 
sackcloth — and the croiun is fallen from our heads to the dust, 
and woe is me, for toe are undone — is my wailing even in the 
night-vialches" "We are very small and oppressed. We have 
lost much in native assistants, (now the glory of other missions ;) 
much in our village-schools; much in unity and liberality of 
counsel and effort; and much of the confidence of the people:. - 
Who will be responsible in the day of judgment V 

The question is urged here, not in bitterness but in kind- 



310 MISSION SCHOOLS, 

ness, not in anger but in sorrow, and yet in all its solemn 
gravity, ought not this suppression of the schools in 1855, 
by a Deputation sent out at an expense of some $10,000, to 
stir as deep and lasting regret in the hearts of all who love 
the cause, as did their abandonment in 1837 for want of 
funds? " Who will be responsible in the day of judgment ?" 

Grief of the Board for the Loss of the Schools. 

In 1837-8, in view of the terrible disaster involved in 
abandoning the schools, and of the lamentations of the mis- 
sionaries, the officers and patrons of the Board seemed al- 
most to vie with each other in the depth and extent of their 
grief, and their efforts to retrieve the loss. The editor of 
the Missionary Herald introduced the letter and enforced the 
appeals of the mission in impressive and touching terms. 
He says : "Let every Christian reader of this letter imagine 
himself as nearly as he can, in the place of his missionary 
brethren and sisters in Ceylon, and sympathize with them 
in their disappointment and grief, while stripped of almost 
all their facilities for extended usefulness, and left to mourn 
over apparently lost labor ; let him see the schools disband- 
ed and the youths turned away from the seminaries, and fol- 
low them all to th*e haunts of heathenism and temptation ; 
let him hear the triumph and scoffs of the heathen, renew- 
ing their confidence in the strength and permanency of their 
idolatrous system, which had begun to fail them ; let him 
think how the native assistants and church members are 
disheartened and their faith shaken, subjected as they are 
to new assaults and temptations; and say whether the 
poverty of the Christian community at home is such as to 
justify the patrons of the Board in permitting this mission 
any longer to remain in this prostrate and paralyzed con- 
dition." " Let each one of the patrons of the Board regard 
this appeal as addressed to himself, and let him in his own 
mind make out such a reply to it, in his own defense, as he 
would be willing to meet the afflicted brethren with, could 
he see them face to face ; such a reply as he would be will- 



PUPILS SENT BACK TO HEATHENISM, 311 

tag to make before the throne of Christ to the deceased 
brother who penned it." At the annual meeting of this 
year, 1888, one of the secretaries read a paper from which 
take the following extracts: " The effects of the curtailment 
were first felt in the free schools and seminaries connected 
with the missions; and they were disastrous and painful 
nearly in proportion to the extent and success with which 
these had before been conducted. In Ceylon five thousand 
pupils were dismissed from the free schools at once, leaving 
only sixteen schools remaining. ' The breaking up of our 
schools,' say the missionaries, ' has been a most grievous 
blow. It was with aching hearts that we turned five thou- 
sand children out into the wilderness of heathenism.' " 

Five Thousand Pupils sent back to Heathenism. 

" After my usual lessons," says one of the older mission- 
aries, " with the readers in the schools yesterday, I gave 
each a portion of the Bible as a present. I told them the 
reason — exhorted them to read it, not to enter into tempta- 
tion, and to keep the Sabbath holy — prayed with them, 
commending them to the Friend of little children, and then 
sent them away — from me, from the Bible class, from the 
Sabbath-school, from the house of prayer, to feed on the 
mountains of heathenism, with the idols under the green 
trees — a prey to the roaring lion, to evil demons, and to a 
people more ignorant than they, even to their blind, delud- 
ed, and deluding guides ; and when I looked after them, as 
they went out, my heart failed me. Oh ! what an offering 
to Swamy ! — -five thousand children!" 

" But the bearing of this curtailment on the system of 
education in this mission, did not end with the free schools. 
Eight girls were cut off from the female boarding-school — 
a school which the mission regard as vitally connected 
with female education and female piety in the land. The 
seminary for educating native preachers, and other helpers, 
could not escape. No new class could be taken at the usual 
time for admitting one, in the autumn of 1837. Still less 



812 mission schools; 

could the missionaries open the door for one the present 
autumn. Thus the hopes of about one hundred candidates 
were disappointed, and their progress in obtaining an edu- 
cation, which should bring them under Christian influences, 
and ultimately qualify them for usefulness to their country- 
men and the Church, probably arrested forever. There was 
a more painful step still, which the mission could not be 
spared. Forty -four must be cut off from those already in 
the seminary, who had enjoyed their instructions, and on 
whom their hopes were set as future coadjutors in their 
work." 

'- This retrograde movement has, in some instances, exert- 
ed a most unhappy influence upon a whole heathen com- 
munity. In Ceylon, no sooner was it known that the re- 
sources of the mission had failed, and the schools were dis- 
missed, than a general exultation and triumph prevailed." 
" Native teachers are turned out of employment, and are ex- 
posed to a life of idleness and temptation. Instead of being 
coadjutors to the missionaries in doing good to their own 
countrymen, they are in danger of being ruined themselves, 
and becoming the means of ruining others. 

" The native church members are disheartened and per- 
plexed. With the little knowledge and enlargement of 
mind, which they can be supposed to possess, it is not 
strange that it seems to them now as if that cause to which 
they had attached themselves, and which they supposed was 
to rise steadily as the sun, and universally prevail, was now 
about to set in confusion. This fills them with doubt and 
dismay. 

"Nor does the character of the missionaries, and through 
them the character of Christianity itself, escape reproach. 
They have disappointed expectations, and, as the heathen 
regard it, broken the pledges which they had previously 
given. In Ceylon, the missionaries were regarded as pledged 
to carry the pupils already received through their respective 
branches of instruction, and to receive additional classes to 
the seminaries from year to year. "When they turned away 
five thousand pupils from the free schools, and forty-four from 



GRIEF OF THE BOARD. 313 

the seminary, and refused to receive classes for two success- 
ive years, they were charged with breaking their promises. 

" The Committee repeat what they said on introducing 
this subject, that what we now see are only the beginnings 
of the consequences which are growing out of this curtail- 
ment. The results which are to be developed in the future 
life and in the eternal existence of the multitudes affected 
by it, none can foretell but He who sees the end from the 
beginning. Of how many was probably the character and 
the everlasting destiny fixed that day, when the Ceylon 
mission, compelled by the scantiness of our contributions, 
decided to turn five thousand pupils from their schools? 
Who is willing to look at the consequences of this curtail- 
ment to that student of the seminary, turned away with his 
pride wounded and his mind soured, to become a hardened 
idolater, or a leader in infidelity ; or to that convinced but 
unconverted school-master ; or to that weak church-member ; 
or to those girls shut out from the boarding-school, and 
turned over again to heathen parents and friends, without 
restraint, to be trained for idol-worship, or scenes of pollu- 
tion and infamy ; or to those Brahmans and learned men, 
whose faith in their Shasters began to waver, but who now 
are convinced again that Siva is mightier than Jehovah ; or 
to those whole nations of heathen to whom we have been 
virtually shutting up the wa}^ of life, and as it were clearing 
out the impediments from their broad way to perdition, 
which the missionaries had been throwing in to obstruct 
their progress ?" 

These regrets and lamentations of the missionaries, officers, 
and patrons of the Board, for the reduction of their schools 
in 1837, found fitting expression in the following resolution, 
which was adopted by the whole Board : 

"Hesolved, That this Board deeply sympathize with its mis- 
sionaries under the grief and disappointment they have suffered, 
in consequence of the curtailment of their means of usefulness, 
and would assure them of our prayers and efforts that they may 
be speedily furnished with the aid necessary for executing their 
former plans, and extending their operations." 
14 



314 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

ISTow these vivid representations of the sad results of the 
curtailment in 1837, and this resolution of the Board to re- 
trieve the loss as speedily as possible, are surely fitting. 
But why more fitting in 1837 than in 1855 ? Was it any 
less disastrous to turn away heathen teachers and pupils in 
1855 than in 1837 ? Were these schools any more needed 
in Ceylon, in 1837, after twenty years' progress, than in 
new missions in 1855 ? Was it not as sad for native con- 
verts and inquirers to be thrust away from the mission at 
Ahmednuggur in 1851, by the summary suppression of the 
seminary there, as by the curtailment in Ceylon in 1837 ? 
Does it really change the character of the results because in 
the one case the schools were disbanded for the want of 
funds, and the calamity elicited a burst of regret, sympathy, 
and lamentation from missionaries, officers, patrons, and the 
whole Board, while in the other the schools were suppressed 
by the Deputation, and only a few of the old and long-tried 
missionaries ventured to give utterance to their grief? 

Here are two correlative pages in the history of missions, 
the lessons of which the churches can not afford to lose. 
The Officers of the American Board, by their changing poli- 
cy, have developed conflicting acts and series of facts and 
results which are painfully instructive. If they can recon- 
cile their regrets and lamentations for the loss of their 
schools in 1838, with their voluntary suppression of the 
same schools in 1855, they certainly owe it to the Church 
and the world to do so. 

Efforts to Betrieve the Loss. 

1839. — The shades of light and darkness alternate, and 
sometimes intermingle, in the picture of this year. The 
general summary at its commencement speaks in tones of 
grief of the sad reverse which had fallen upon the mission. 
" It was never making more rapid progress in its work, 
never exerting a happier or greater influence, never blessed 
with more cheering prospects, than when, as by a blast from 
the desert, the numerous children in its schools were driven 
away and dispersed among the heathen." 






EFFORTS TO RETRIEVE THE LOSS. 315 

The convictions of the missionaries as to the vital import- 
ance of these schools are recorded in terms which can not be 
mistaken. "Aside from the training of teachers of Christ- 
ianity," thej say, " the seminary is doing much to introduce 
the Gospel into the country, by the tone it gives to religious 
education, and the encouragement it affords to Christian 
schools. The missionaries find no difficulty in making all 
their schools as thoroughly religious as they choose. And 
parents who wish to have their sons educated make no ob- 
jections to the study of Christian lessons." 

"Christianity, without an education suited to its nature 
and genius, will exist only in embryo. It will exert no 
living, self-propagating power. The mere repetition of 
Christian precepts is not enough to feed and furnish the 
mind. In regard to this people, their whole moral organi- 
zation is defective, from never having enjoyed a single 
healthful influence in their early education. To give them 
an elevated piety there is needed, after conversion as well 
as before, the patient and persevering efforts of parental 
training, more necessary and difficult as they are met and 
resisted by the powerful influences of habit, confirmed by 
years of sin, and example that is almost universal. "What 
we regard, then, of essential importance to the permanence 
and growth of Christianity in this land, is the formation of 
a community that shall be governed by enlightened Christ- 
ian sentiments." 

" You are aware that but little has been done the past 
eighteen months in the department of native free schools. 
Our direct influence upon the people has in consequence 
been very limited. The schools, as has been often remarked, 
are an important channel of communication with the parents 
and friends of the pupils. Without them we. labor under 
great disadvantages in securing their presence and gaining 
their attention. We hope to be able to resume a sufficient 
number of the schools the present year to give efficiency to 
our system." 

" We are as much as ever convinced of the adaptation of 
our general system of effort to the great object of turning 



316 MISSION SCHOOLS, 

this people from idolatry, and of converting them to God. 
We do not see how Christianity can be permanently estab- 
lished, in this or in any land, withont the aid of a system of 
Christian edncation. We are not aware that it ever has 
been established withont snch aid. In this land, even 
preaching the Gospel almost necessarily partakes of the cha- 
racter of elementary teaching. Schools, under Christian 
influence, are the most economical means of giving to the 
mass of the community a great deal of instruction that is 
necessary to the understanding of the truths of the Gospel. 
We do not say they are a means necessary to conversion ; 
but for the growth and permanence of Christian principles 
in a heathen community, we consider them, in connection 
with the preaching of the Gospel by the missionary, as of 
very essential advantage. We have sometimes thought the 
American Church did not appreciate the advantages she de- 
rives from the Christian education of her youth, and there- 
fore does not admit, to the extent that we think she ought, 
the importance or the obligation of connecting a system of 
religious education with the efforts of her missionaries. But 
if every Christian school and every pious mother were with- 
drawn from America, what would be the result to the 
Church ? And if the influence of a polluting and idolatrous 
system of religion were substituted, what would be her 
future prospects ? We ask no more than that she would 
do unto others what she would that they should do unto 
her, if the circumstances were reversed." 

These views and convictions of the missionaries were 
promptly and warmly, seconded by the Board, as already 
shown, and the Committee sent a letter by " the shortest 
and most expeditious route," and relieved the mission from 
the restriction which had been imposed upon it. 

" The mission kept a day of special thanksgiving when 
they heard that the churches had enabled the Committee to 
relieve them from their embarrassments." The Ceylon gov- 
ernment generously contributed £200 a year for its schools, 
and though "so much ruin could not be repaired at once," 
and the schools~were but partially resumed, still the state 



TENTH REVIVAL IN THE SCHOOLS. 317 

of the mission was greatly improved, and the year closed 
with " fifty-one free schools, containing 1824 scholars," and 
260 boarding-scholars, of whom 86 were members of the 
Church. 

Tenth Bevival in the Schools. 

Another "precious visitation," too, was enjoyed in the 
schools. It commenced near the close of the previous year, 
and ten persons were soon admitted into the Church, of 
whom "nine were members of the girls' boarding-school." 
But the more marked results of God's gracious presence 
were enjoyed in May. Special religious meetings had been 
held, and the minds and hearts of the pupils were found pre- 
pared for the silent operations of the Spirit, as on former simi- 
lar occasions. " From that time a considerable number re- 
gularly attended a meeting of inquiry, held every Sabbath. 
This class of candidates for the church numbered about 
fifty during the last term. From them thirty-one were re- 
ceived to the communion of the Church, on the 19th inst., 
(May,) making the number of students now in the seminary, 
who are members of the Church, in regular standing, eighty 
four, while of the sixty-six remaining students, about twenty 
were candidates for admission." Well do the missionaries 
say : " From this view we feel ourselves called upon to 
thank God and take courage." 

In September of this year they write again : " The moral 
and religious state of the seminary is encouraging. At no 
time previously has there been so large a proportion of the 
students members of the Church. It has been a leading 
feature in the boarding-school system from its commence- 
ment, that a large proportion of the pupils come forward to 
profess their faith in Christ." 

Thus the missionaries proved the truth of their own judg- 
ment and prediction when they wrote : " As the word of 
God shall not go forth in vain, we may confidently expect 
that, if any where, there will be true converts among those 
who are daily and for a long time brought into immediate 
contact with divine truth, and who are in a great measure 



318 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

removed from the adverse influences peculiar to this 
country." 

Xear the close of this rear, reverting to the reduction of 
the schools, and the success of efforts to retrieve their loss, 
they say : " Most of the native free schools at the station, 
which were for many months suspended, have been reestab- 
lished. Few, however, of the older pupils are now in at- 
tendance. The blight occasioned by the dearth of funds 
will long be felt at every station/' And yet, "the readi- 
ness of the people to send their children to Christian schools, 
even their female children, furnishes pleasing evidence that 
there has been a leavening of the whole mass of the colu- 
mn nity." 

Converting Influence of the Schools. 

1840. — Among the notices of the schools this year we 
rind the following in regard to the girls' boarding-school : 
" The whole number admitted to this school since the com- 
mencement is 167/' It has been before stated that all who 
had left after a regular course of study, gave evidence of 
piety. And now it is stated that ;i of the 90 now in the 
school, 25 are members of the Church, 25 the children of 
church-members, and several others are the sisters of pious 
lads in the seminary at Batticotta. The influence of the 
pious girls on the morals of the school is most happy. 
Meetings among themselves, and with the other girls, for 
reading the Bible, exhortation, and prayer, are a delight." 

"It is not uncommon that these children exert a very 
favorable influence on their parents and other friends, when 
they go home in their vacations, by reading portions of the 
Bible or tracts, by answering inquiries, and by urging the 
claims of Christianity." 

" The bearings of this school on the future prospects of 
the mission are most interesting. The objections and pre- 
judices against female education are shown to be without 
foundation, and the happy contrast between an educated 
and pious wife and an ignorant heathen one, is seen and ac- 
knowledged, not only by Christians, but by many heathens 



CONVERTING INFLUENCE OF THE SCHOOLS 319 

around us. Besides, it should never be forgotten, that, 
until the females are raised by education so as to hold their 
proper rank in society, and until their hearts are brought 
under the influence of Christianity, there is little hope that 
the people of India will rise from idolatry and sin to the 
dignity and happiness of a Christian people." 

The Batticotta Seminary ''continues to be, to a very great 
extent, our principal dependence in view of the future pros- 
perity of Christianity in this part of the world. Successive 
classes rise gradually above the preceding in their attain- 
ments, and we are able to fix our terms of admission higher, 
and to subject candidates to a more rigid examination." 

" There has been a class of professed inquirers varying 
from forty to sixty. Some of those, it is expected, will be 
received to church fellowship soon. We have reason to 
think that the church is rising, both as to her views of doc- 
trine and duty, and to her approaching freedom from the 
'yoke of bondage' of heathen superstitions and national 
prejudices." 

" The whole number of church members connected with 
the seminary, including six teachers, is 105." 31 of the 
students were received in August of this year. The whole 
number received into the Church this year was 48, showing 
that the presence and influence of the Spirit was not less 
marked than in the year previous. 

Of all the converts of the mission up to this date it is 
said : "In our printed list of church members there are 491 
names. Of these 311 have been educated in our schools, or 
are now in a course of education. Many of the remaining 
180 are or have been [heathen] schoolmasters." 

What more unequivocal testimony to the value of these 
schools is possible ? Nearly all the converts brought under 
Christian teaching and influence, and converted to Cod, by means 
of these schools I 



320 



MISSION SCHOOLS. 



Success of the Schools in training Native Helpers. 

In 1841, the mission found so much progress had been 
made in overcoming the prejudices and opposition of the 
people by means of their schools, that they could modify 
their regulations and require the students of the seminary to 
furnish their own clothes, and give security for the subse- 
quent payment of their board — a decided step in advance, 
which greatly encouraged the missionaries. The religious 
interest in the seminary is indicated by the statement that : 
" There are from fifty to seventy-five who wish to be re- 
garded as candidates for church membership. We hope 
some of them will prove themselves worthy." 

" To show to what extent the seminary is accomplishing 
its object of training native helpers in the missionary work, the 
missionaries stated more than two years ago, that of those 
who had passed through its course of study, sixty-seven" ex- 
clusive of eight teachers in the seminary, one of whom was 
a preacher, " were in the employment of different missions 
in Ceylon and Southern India. Four of them were preach- 
ers, and others were preparing for that office. 

In 1842 "a theological class of eight" is reported in the 
Batticotta Seminary. Of the schools it is said : " The school 
system is gradually recovering from the desolations of 1887. 
In the centre stands the noble seminary" Of the value of 
these schools in the estimation of the missionaries and of 
the Board at that date, what better proof is possible than 
the prompt vigilance and energy with which they were re- 
sumed, after the terrible disaster which disbanded them in 
1837 had a little subsided ? This year the seminary reports 
207 pupils ; and some 70 free schools, with the English and 
other boarding-schools, present the sum total of 3541 pupils 
under Christian instruction. 

Direct testimony, too, continues to be placed on record in 
most unequivocal terms. The pages of the Herald abound 
with statements like the following : 

"There are no such occasions for going 'from house to 
house,' and of holding intercourse with the people ' in season 



SUCCESS IX TRAINING NATIVE HELPERS. 321 

and out of season,' and no such occasions for going about 
doing good to soul and bodj r , and certainly no such oppor- 
tunities for holding friendly intercourse with adults, male 
and female, as those afforded by the establishment of a sys- 
tem of native free schools. It furnishes, probably, the happiest 
combination of influences for doing good to soul and body that 
can possibly be devised by the missionary. It is far more ac- 
ceptable to the people of this country than would be the 
same amount of expenditure even for medical purposes." 

Compare with this testimony the fact that though the re- 
port of last year gives 105 members of the seminary as com- 
municants in the church, the whole membership of that 
church this year is reported to be only 131. And also the 
fact before mentioned, that of the first 491 admitted to the 
church, 311 owed their conversion to being pupils, and 
many of the remaining 180 were converted while employed 
as heathen school-teachers. 

In 1843, the number o# pupils had increased to more than 
4000. Reviving influences had also come down upon the 
schools, and while reporting the admission to the church of 
fifteen girls from the boarding-school in March, the mission- 
aries add : " We have reason to believe that a few more are 
under the teachings of the Holy Spirit. They are all — even 
the least of them — in the habit of prayer, which has been 
characteristic of the school from its commencement. When 
a girl is admitted to the school, this is the first lesson taught 
by her little associates, not by our request or interference, 
but as a thing of course." 

Who can wonder that the missionaries say of these 
schools: "It seems impossible that in this way the families 
of the next generation should not be greatly modified and 
improved. In our efforts to bring girls under instruction, 
the influence of fathers who were educated in our native 
free schools in the early stages of the mission, is very ser- 
viceable. These fathers are comparatively free from preju- 
dice against Christianity ; and they have a vague impres- 
sion that it is well for their children to become acquainted 
with it," 

14* 



322 



MISSION SCHOOLS. 



"Though Seed lie buried long in Dust." 

If any fancy that the unconverted pupils of mission 
schools become the worst opposers, let them ponder the 
last statement. Let them consider, too, hundreds of cases 
like the following : 

" When at Manepy, in 1827-8, I was pleased with the 
progress of a lad who was once a monitor in a village 
school. He had left the school and gone to his fields and 
gardens. I used to see him at work on the Sabbath, and 
always reproved him, but he used generally to return some 
saucy answer. One Sabbath afternoon I was riding to the 
place of meeting, and seeing him at work, I began to repeat 
the fourth commandment. In a moment he caught it out 
of my mouth, and looking significantly at my horse, said, 
1 Nor thy cattle/' and then stopped. After preaching at 
Manepy, a few days ago, I proposed to meet those who pro- 
fessed to be inquirers, and was surprised to see this very 
monitor boy. . . On inquiring the cause of his wishing 
to be a Christian, he told me that it was simply the truth 
which he had formerly learned in the school, adding : ' He 
who knows his Master's will and does it not, must be beaten 
with many stripes.' He quoted many passages from the 
Bible readily and appropriately, thus giving evidence that 
he still remembers what he then learned, and that the hus- 
bandman has encouragement to wait in hope." 

Next to the band of living converts in our mission 
churches, no brighter prospect meets the eye or gladdens 
the heart, on heathen ground, than the thousands of youth 
who have been, or are being educated in mission schools. 

1844. — The records of this year continue to abound in 
facts and testimony to the very great value of the schools. 
The missionaries say : 

" The entire system of schools is itself a proclamation of 
'peace on earth and good will toward men,' which the 
wayfaring man, though a fool, may understand. As a 
means of access to the adult population, moreover, schools 
are an almost indispensable auxiliary to the missionary." 



THE NATIVE CHURCH. 323 



The Native Church gathered from the Schools. 

A brief history of the native church is crowded with facts 
and statements as follows : 

"The native church in. Jaffna, so far as human instru- 
mentality is concerned, is the offspring of the school estab- 
lishments in the district, more especially of the mission 
boarding-schools. This might be clearly shown by a chro- 
nological notice of admissions to the Church from the year 
1819, when Gabriel Tissera and Nicholas Permander — the 
first teachers in our boarding-schools — were received, down 
to the present time." 

" It should also be stated that those precious and repeated 
seasons of revival with which we have been favored, and 
which are the most prominent events in the history of our 
mission, were always closely connected with the boarding- 
schools. 

" Hence, with a very few exceptions, the members of the 
Church have been gathered, not from the general mass, but 
from certain select classes of idolaters who have been 
brought under the influence of the mission from secular 
considerations," namely, the desire for education. 

This sketch of the native church brings to view the fact 
that of 460 living communicants, 365 — about four fifths 
— owed their Christian knowledge and conversion to the 
schools. 

As a general result of all past experience, the missionaries 
write : 

" We are now prepared to say in conclusion, that in every 
village throughout our field, which can be statedly reached by 
the missionary for the purpose of preaching the Gospel — 
whether it be weekly, monthly, or quarterly — a Tamil free 
school for both sexes should be established and efficiently sus- 
tained, 

"It is for the Board and for the Christian public in 
America to determine to what extent men and money, faith 
and prayer, shall be made subservient to a vigorous prose- 
cution of the work we have in hand. But let it not be for- 



324 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

gotten that the special object of this communication is to re- 
concile the minds of all concerned to our making the Tamil 
free school system for both sexes, coextensive with stated 
village preaching. 

u In a word, the village school is a fulcrum, ivith the aid of 
which the combined powers of the missionary oind of his native 
assistants may be made to bear advantageously upon the mighty 
masses to be moved ; and, other things being equal, the result will 
be in proportion to the length and solidity of the lever applied." 

1845. — The pupils in the schools this year show an in- 
crease of 1354, the whole number being 4080. Of some 
120 teachers only 54 are reported as members of the church, 
showing that the larger proportion were still " heathen 
teachers." 

The report of the Board says : " The testimony of the 
three brethren from the Tamil missions as to the value of 
the school system, is united and strong. They say it has 
risen in their estimation, and never was in higher repute." 

The testimony of the Home Committee is, that the Tamil 
missions " are conducted on principles long tried, and which 
appear to have the sanction of experience and of the great 
Head of the Church." 

A refreshing season was enjoyed "in the seminary this 
year ; a meeting for inquiry was attended by some 50 stu- 
dents, of whom some 15 or 20 gave "some evidence of hav- 
ing been born of the Spirit." 

1846. — The number of pupils slightly diminished this 
year, but the schools prospered, and "on the whole, the 
seminary has never been in a more healthful state than dur- 
ing the last year." A gracious influence was manifest in the 
schools, "Christians seem revived and encouraged, and a 
great majority of the students are very seriously impressed." 
Several students and pupils of the girls' boarding-school 
were received into the Church. 

1847. — The annual report of this year finds nothing 
worthy of higher commendation than "the admirable sys- 
tem of schools and higher seminaries of learning, which 
forms so striking a feature in these [Tamil] missions." 



THE OLD HEATHEN TEACHER. 325 



The Old Heathen Teacher. 

The reader will have observed that in the first years of 
this mission all its native teachers were heathen — that up to 
the present date the larger proportion of the teachers em- 
ployed were heathen, though many of them had thus been 
brought under the influence of Christian truth and converted. 
It is well to mark the blessing of God which rested so large- 
ly upon these schools, and resulted in the conversion of so 
many of these teachers. Nathaniel is an instance of one of 
these teachers who long resisted the truth. He was em- 
ployed for many years as a teacher of Tamil in the semi- 
nary. The following brief account of his conversion is from 
the pen of one of the missionaries. 

" Through all his former labors with us, he was a consist- 
ent heathen, and was often designated as ' the devout hea- 
then.' He now seems as decided and devout in the Christian 
way. Though he had received much instruction in the doc- 
trines of Christ, and through the course of many years, yet 
he steadily pursued his mystic studies, and took one step 
after another in the prescribed course of Hindu religious 
life. A few months ago he was doubtless cherishing the 
sentiment that in his next birth he should be near the gods. 
After his dismission from our service, he had several classes 
of disciples whom he led on in the same alluring, delusive 
path. While thus engaged, he was brought very low - by 
sickness, 'nigh unto death,' indeed, as he supposed. It was 
then, as he says, that ' God spake to his heart, reminded 
him of the Christian instruction which he had received, and 
made him feel his sins and his lost condition.'- As soon as 
he was able to walk so far, he came to me and declared his 
purpose to be a Christian. Since that time he has given 
increasing evidence of having been 'born of the Spirit.' 
The day previous to his reception to the Church, I asked 
him if he intended to be baptized by his heathen name. 
1 Oh ! no/ said he, ' I must have a new name. I wish to 
have all new.' He chose the name of Nathaniel, in view of 
John 1 : 47." 



326 



MISSION SCHOOLS. 



This man at once consecrated his children to Christ in 
baptism, and entered upon the Christian life with mature 
knowledge and full purpose of heart. In 1848, the whole 
number of pupils reported in this mission is 4640, and about 
half the teachers had become members of the Church. 

The reports of the mission are crowded with direct testi- 
mony to the value of the schools. After giving a series of 
facts as the basis of his conclusion, Mr. Fletcher writes: 
" Thus you see that a thorough Christian education is one 
of the most powerful levers by which to overthrow the su- 
perstitions of iDdia. The system of education here is full 
of hope to this people. A young man who has passed 
through our common schools and the seminary, although 
he may not be a professed Christian, and may mingle with 
the heathen, still can not be such a heathen as he otherwise 
might be. His mind has received such a shape, that it can 
never for one moment admit the truth of the system of idol- 
atry. Thus he never will be a sincere worshipper at its 
shrines, nor a zealous, conscientious inculcator of its prin- 
ciples. There is also a growing conviction among all classes, 
that the missionaries are right ; that they teach the truth, 
and are seeking the welfare of the people." Mr. Howland 
writes : "I must not neglect to mention what an interesting 
field for preaching the Grospel I have among the 700 child- 
ren in my free schools." And after stating the influence of 
true secular knowledge on their minds, he adds: "They 
are made familiar, too, with the Bible and with the whole 
plan of salvation. From the first day they came into the 
school, they have heard these truths. Scripture lessons and 
Scripture reading form the great part of every day's instruc- 
tion. I often resolve that I will spend more of my time in 
these schools, with the conviction that it is perhaps my most 
hopeful field for preaching the Gospel." 

Some persons have advanced the idea that so much atten- 
tion to mission schools by the missionary must detract from 
his time and strength for oral preaching. On this point 
doubtless the experience of every missionary would accord 
with that of Mr. Smith, who says: " The care of the schools 



TESTIMONY OF NATIVE CONVERTS. 827 

is not, and never has been a hindrance to m^ going among 
the natives. ... I regard these schools as a very im- 
portant connecting link between us and the heathen. To 
cut them off, to any great extent, would greatly diminish our 
means of access to the people. The fact is ivorthy of notice, 
that all who have come to this field ivith strong 'prejudices against 
schools, and strongly in favor of preaching as the only means to 
be used, have, as soon as they have really entered into the work, 
seen and felt that schools are a very important means of getting 
access to ike people" 

Thus, instead of the schools being any hindrance to oral 
preaching, experience amply shows that they furnish oppor- 
tunities for stated oral preaching ten times as often and to 
twenty times as many hearers, as would be possible without 
them. 

In 1849 the number of pupils was 3485, and the con- 
trolling influence of the schools in favor of Christianity was 
such that the Eomanists and Hindus found it best to resort 
to the same agency in their efforts, but found it necessary to 
introduce the Bible into their schools to win popular favor. 
Fitly do the missionaries say: "Understanding these facts, 
no one can be~at a loss as to the bearing of our seminary at 
the present time on the best interests of our cause, as well as 
on the general prosperity of the land." It was these schools 
which enabled them to say : "A broad foundation for future 
success has been laid in the dissemination of Gospel truth 
throughout the province." 

The spontaneous testimony of the native converts refers 
the blessed change that had come over the province to these 
same schools. " It is the privileges of this seminary," they 
say, " that have raised us in point of civilization, education, 
and religion. . . . Since the establishment of this semi- 
nary and other schools, the people are greatly improved in 
their customs and manners ; and deserve, we hope, in a few 
years to come, if not now already, to be ranked in a higher 
class." 

After enumerating the many benefits derived from the 
schools, by way of education physical, intellectual, moral, and 



328 



MISSION SCHOOLS, 



religious, they very fitly add : " In short, we could say with 
the blind man in the Gospel, 'that whereas we were born 
blind, now we see.' " Even the heathen join in this same 
testimony. An old unconverted moonshi, noting the won- 
derful change that had come over the people, exclaims : " I 
seem as one born blind and now just made to sec. Every 
thing is so changed !" 

We need not wonder, then, that the toiling, lioping mis- 
sionary writes : " The good work is evidently making pro- 
gress, slowly indeed, for Grod does all things without haste ; 
and I can not but hope before another century the sun will 
rise upon Christian Jaffna, and that this little spot with its 
Puritan institutions, the village church and school, will send 
out influences to leaven India." 

In 1850 the number of pupils in the schools was 4165. 
The seminaries continued to be the centres of religious in- 
terest and influence, and " an unusual degree of religious 
feeling" in the seminary this year, was "characterized by 
unusual quietness and depth of conviction. Mr. Howland 
remarked that he had not seen before in India, such deep 
conviction for sin. It appeared more like the operations of 
the Spirit as seen in America than like those he had hereto- 
fore seen here. Some interest is felt by nearly all the boys, 
and some 12 or 15 are hopeful subjects of renewing grace." 

In the statistics of this year are recorded the fact that ot 
680, the whole number of converts received to churcli com- 
munion from the first, 300 were educated in the Batticotta 
Seminary, and 180 in the Oodooville boarding-school. Of 
all who had been educated in the Batticotta Seminary, fully 
three fourths had become church members, while, in the 
girls' boarding-school uearly all had become pious, and the 
numerous Christian families are spoken of as presenting the 
brightest hope of the mission for coming years. 

The value Of education continued to increase among the 
natives, and crowds of candidates pressed for admission — 
many more than could be received, even though the mission 
had changed its terms and required the full pay for board in 
advance. 



ELEVENTH REVIVAL IN THE SCHOOLS. 329 

Iii 1851 the whole number of pupils was some 4250. Of 
these more than 500 were students of English in i5 schools, 
9 of which w r ere generously supported by the government. 
The seminary continued to prosper. " It has afforded us a 
very valuable corps of native assistants, and sent abroad 
through the island, a large number who are well instructed 
in true science and the doctrines of Christianity." The 
female boarding-school " has exerted a wide and powerful 
influence in overcoming the prejudices of the community 
against female education." 

Eleventh Revival in the Schools. 

The mission was blessed with another precious revival 
this year, which commenced, as the previous revivals had 
done, in the boarding-schools. After describing the prelim- 
inary indications of the Spirit's presence in the schools,' the 
missionary writes: "In the afternoon there was an unusual 
stillness in the seminary, except as it was broken by the 
voice of prayer. Almost every countenance had an expres- 
sion of thoughtful tenderness and solemnity. At the close 
of the Bible exercise at four o'clock, instead of going out to 
distribute tracts among the people, as is usual, the church 
members and teachers met in the school-room, and were soon 
joined by most of the impenitent. Their voices were heard 
in fervent prayer until sunset. At our evening meeting, 
there was a stillness, such as exists only when the Spirit of 
Grod is present. At the close of the exercise many lingered 
in the school room ; and as soon as they were left alone, 
their voices were heard in prayer. It was after ten o'clock 
wdien I went to sleep, and they were still praying. I learned 
the next day that they continued until nearly midnight; and 
at half-past four I was awakened by the same sound." " They 
have held a morning prayer-meeting nearly all the term ; 
but never before had I heard them pray so early or so fer- 
vently. It was not merely the form of prayer, but the 
earnest pleading of burdened hearts ; and I could not but 
feel that the Lord was indeed among us, stirring them up to 



330 



MISSION SCHOOLS. 



take hold of him, and plead his promises ; and I felt that a 
cloud of mercy was hovering over us. 

"Though they had gathered so early, the sun had risen 
long before they dispersed. ... At our morning devo- 
tions we spent an hour together, and then went on with, 
school duties. But the bell for twelve o'clock, which released 
them from study, had hardly done ringing, when the voice 
of prayer was heard in the school-room. At first only a 
few of the church- members were present; but as they con- 
tinued in prayer, others came, until nearly all the members 
of the seminary were there. Many did not go to dinner. 
Some who entered the room thoughtlessly, and because they 
saw others going, were soon in tears ; and church -members, 
who seemed lifeless and dead, spoke and prayed in a man- 
ner which the Spirit only could inspire. The Spirit seemed 
literally 'poured out ; and all were moved, as by an unseen yet 
mighty influence. The bell rang at two o'clock to call them 
to their studies, but still they lingered more than half an 
hour ; and then I sent and advised them to adjourn until 
evening. I never before witnessed such a simultaneous 
movement on so many minds, when there was no special 
apparent cause. 

-' Tuesday was spent as a day of social prayer; and it was 
truly a most solemn and interesting day. From four o'clock 
in the morning until nearly midnight, except during the 
public meetings, the voice of prayer might be heard from 
the class and prayer-rooms, and indeed from every place 
where one could be alone or unite with others in small 
circles. . . . 

" Much prayer was offered on Saturday that the Sabbath 
might be a day of God's power, and so it was. The scenes 
of that day it is not easy to describe. The most careless 
seemed aroused ; and on every countenance there was a solem-. 
nity which showed the inward workings of the spirit. The 
interests of the soul seemed the only topic of thought and 
conversation. Often did we wish that the patrons of these 
boys might be here to witness what we did, and share our 
joy. They would have felt a thousand times repaid for all 



ELEVENTH REVIVAL IN THE SCHOOLS. =31 

ear d z ■£&£&&&»** s 

bhall we wonder that the hearts of the missionaries he 
came .strongly bound to institutions thus cro wned the e l 
enth time with such a choice blessing from Heaven ?Sh 
we wonder that the Committee upon this mi Sn a the t 
nual meeting of the Board, placed on record thTt' '"he two" 
very important schools which have been lono- established 

ho^ rt T * S *°? a desirabIe and P^manent character 
show the wisdom of the plans adopted by the excellent mS 
who first went to that field" ? excellent men 

And is it possible that at this very time doubts ™™ L • 
entertained by our Secretaries aJut "he Som of on* 
toumg these institutions, and that plans were being forced 
for their suppression, even against the judgment and Tan 

lT ns /£r s ri "T ,lent r n " ? L -r n a ofan o t c : 

pate A fact so sad needs no heralding, and results so 

»i*So^ the rr* 

spoke, of as 'still worth vaslly ^ SKb^^ 
ample instruments of preaching the word.- %££ 
fluence of the Batticotta Seminary and of the female boa d 
mg-school 1S 'deepening and widening.- The AnnuJ 
Commie speak of << the continued and^preadfng ia fluen C t 
of the seminary and boarding-school," and combine" 
the fidelity and wisdom" exhibited in the conduct of he 
missmn, add: "It is also a signal token of good tha voul 

WiaS f f 8 m T 0la SCh ° 0ls ' and fast becomS 
fluent ml and valued members of society, are helping to create 
a public sentiment favorable to Christian institution^ 

Every year adds to the evidence that our plans and our 
course have been laid by Him who had far more forest 
and forethought than we had " loresignt 

A blessed "season of refreshing" was enjoyed in the 



MISSION SCHOOLS. 



schools, to the results of which a brief allusion is thus made : 
" Several leading members of the Church have been greatly . 
revived by this outpouring of the Spirit." " They seem to 
speak with other tongues and with a great increase of 
power." 

'' Three schoolmasters and two others who were formerly 
teachers, profess to have experienced a change of heart, and 
are very desirous of becoming members of the Church. 
Several of the larger girls in the school at the station give 
more or less evidence of having passed from death unto 
life." The pupils of the other schools were also "deeply 
impressed by the power of truth." Thus a precious work 
of grace was often enjoyed, such as can prevail only where 
the elements of Christian truth have become fixed in minds 
and hearts by a long course of stated and continuous instruc- 
tion. 

1853. — The report of this year shows some 4242 pupils 
in the schools, and says: "The missionaries are seeing 
more and more of the fruit of what has been done in the 
schools in former years." They have proved " emphatical- 
ly the door of access to all classes of the people." 

Of the former graduates of the seminary it is stated: 
"Those of whom we have hoped the least and feared the 
most have shown in some instances that the labor bestowed 
on them is not all lost, and we believe facts will show that 
as few fail of fulfilling the high object for which they are 
educated, as in Christian lands, and fewer than we should 
expect, when we consider 'the hole of the pit' whence 
they are taken." 

This statement is amply supported by facts. Of the girls' 
boarding-school it is shown that out of 204 graduates 136 
were church-members when they left, and 13 more became 
so. Of the 753 who had been admitted into the Batticotta 
Seminary, 365 bad been received to church-fellowship, and 
103 were still students. Of those who had graduated, 96 
were in the service of the mission, "a fact which shows the 
usefulness of the school in the way of furnishing missionary 
helpers." 



TESTIMONY OF REV. DANIEL FOOT?, D.D. 383 

Very fitly does the Annual Committee on this mission 
say: " Several precious seasons of spiritual refreshing have 
been enjoyed, more especially in the mission seminaries and 
boarding-schools. A large proportion of the members of 
the churches, amounting at the time of the last returns to 
385, have been educated in. the mission schools, and belong- 
to the more influential classes of society." How could it be 
otherwise than that the Committee, and officers, and patrons 
of the Board should appreciate the wisdom and fidelity of 
" the good men and women" who devised, and brought into 
use these successful agencies of the Ceylon mission ? 

Testimony of the Rev. Daniel Poor, D.D. 

Among the faithful and devoted missionaries who labored 
some forty years in this mission, it is fitting that the testi- 
mony of such a man as Dr. Poor find a brief record here ; 
all the more so as the convictions of his lifetime have, in 
some quarters, been misrepresented. He has left his testi- 
mony in utterances, which give no uncertain sound, as fol- 
lows : 

"I would now ask whether it is not notorious, that by 
means even of the worst conducted mission schools, the 
Gospel has been preached to adults to a two-fold greater 
extent than though the missionary had devoted his time 
exclusively to preaching without the aid of mission schools? 
My observations lead to the conclusion that he will do four 
times the amount of preaching to adults, by means of a large 
circle of schools, that he would were his exclusive business 
to preach without them. In this statement I give due 
weight, and only due weight, to the importance of address- 
ing persons under circumstances favorable for securing the 
ear, to say nothing of the kindly and respectful feelings of 
the heart. The difficulty of getting a hearing from adults, 
after their curiosity has been gratified by hearing a foreign- 
er attempt to address them in the native language, can never 
be conceived of but by those who have made the experi- 
ment. To preach in bazaars and in the highways to men 



334 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

with whom we have no acquaintance, and over whom we 
have no influence, but by whom we are regarded with deep- 
rooted aversion, or with dread, is like sowing seed upon a 
mighty and rapid stream. It is barely possible that 
some grains may be washed to the river-side and take 
root. 

" Attendance, by adult heathens, for any length of time, at 
appointed places for hearing the Gospel preached, is a thing 
scarcely known in India. If a man wishes to attend, he 
must in some way become so allied to the missionary that 
he may have some ostensible reason for attending that will 
excuse him in the sight of his countrymen. It is still more 
difficult to have any profitable access to children not in mis- 
sion schools, than to adults. They are indeed like wild 
asses' colts, entirely beyond our reach. 

"It is, therefore, a question of immense difficulty, as well 
as of importance, to every one who would preach the Gospel 
to this people, What is the medium, or method, of access to 
them for the purpose of delivering the Gospel message ? 

" This question I have deeply pondered in my mind, from 
year to year, from the time of my first arrival in the coun- 
try, and have adopted different methods at different periods. 
The course of preaching to adults which I review with the 
greatest complacency, is that of having preached in the 
villages, by previous appointment, in the school-bungalows 
connected with the mission. 

" Our success in assembling the people on special occa- 
sions, and at protracted meetings, was in close connection 
with the influence of our school operations. With the ex- 
ception of what is done in the way of tours, and addressing 
people in connection with the distribution of books, I have 
known but little of preaching the Gospel to the heathen, 
but in close connection with schools. 

"When the mission schools at Jaffna were suspended in 
consequence of pecuniary embarrassments, and when it 
would seem that the brethren would have more time for 
preaching, far less preaching was done, actually, and I would 
say, far less could be done, than when the schools were in 



TESTIMONY OF REV. DANIEL POOF. D.P, 835 

operation. Tiie reasons of this will be obvious bj what I 
have before stated. 

" It lias been well said, and may be clearly shown, that 
our Lord, in his ministry on earth, combined attention to 
the spiritual wants of men with a due attention to their tem- 
poral necessities. There is, probably, no way in which a 
missionary may imitate his Master, in this important parti- 
cular, so effectually, economically, and unexceptionably, as 
in the establishment of schools throughout the whole field 
in which it is his intention to labor as a preacher of the 
Gospel. The gratuitous instruction of youth is charity 
of a high order in the estimation of the heathen. The 
monthly stipend of two dollars is sufficient to secure, in an 
important sense, to the cause of Christian instruction, the 
influence of one of the principal men of a village. It gives 
support to a family, the effects of which are felt throughout 
the neighborhood. The school is a key to the village. 
There the missionary has a friend and a home. There is a 
demand for school-books, and an authorized opening for the 
distribution of books of all kinds. The books we are desir- 
ous of placing in the hands of the children are the books 
which the parents can most profitably use. 

" In my present situation it is my high privilege, as be- 
fore mentioned, to give myself exclusively to the work of 
preaching the Gospel. And hence it is that I have been 
induced to carry the school establishment to its present ex- 
tent. Any abridgment of it would, I conceive, proportion- 
ably abridge my means of access to the people for the pur- 
pose of delivering my message. 

" The foregoing remarks relate to the bearings of the 
school establishment upon the adult population. But its 
bearings upon the rising generation, as furnishing the best 
opportunities for preaching the Gospel to them, are no less 
important. Even on the most unfavorable supposition, that 
no child is converted while a member of the school, a great 
work of preparation has been done to aid succeeding mis- 
sionaries in preaching the Gospel to adults. The generation 
of heathens now coming upon the stage of life at Jaffna, or 



836 MISSION SCHOOLS, 

at any other place where mission schools have been long in 
operation, are a different race from their fathers, and fairer 
candidates for the eternal inheritance, by means of the Gos- 
pel now preached to them. Herein, also, is that saying- 
verified, ' One soweth and another reapeth ;' and it may not 
be easy to determine which of the two were the most success- 
ful preacher. Dr. Watts observed that were he to retrace 
his steps, as a bishop of souls, he would spend a larger por- 
tion of his time in catechetical instructions with young 
children. If that would have been wise in a Christian 
country, how vastly more important must such instructions 
be in heathen lands ! And such instructions form a promi- 
nent feature in every well-regulated mission school. It is 
true there are drawbacks arising from the influence of hea- 
then school-masters, heathen parents, and heathenism in all 
its dreadful forms. But this is the very nature of mission 
service. It is a fierce onset upon the great adversary of 
God and men, and a fearful struggle with him in his own 
strongholds." 

After the observation and experience of a quarter of a 
century Dr. Poor recorded it as his firm conviction, that 

U A system of native free schools furnishes probably the hap- 
piest combination of influences for doing good to soul and body 
that can possibly be devised by the missionary. It is far more 
acceptable to the people of this country than the same amount of 
expenditure even for medical purposes.'''' 

In 1854 the whole number of pupils was 4206. Of these, 
93 were in the seminary, 85 in the girls' boarding-school, 
and about 500, as usual, in the English schools, the rest 
being in the vernacular free schools. 

The Missionary Herald still affirms that: " The influence 
of the educational labors of the mission are seen every where. 
. . The standard of attainment in the English schools is 
constantly advancing. Of the value of the education ob- 
tained in the seminary at Batticotta, and in the boarding- 
school at Oodooville, the eagerness of parents to place their 
children in these institutions is decisive proof. That the 
truths of Christianity are not neglected is apparent from the 



THE SCHOOLS SUPPRESSED. 38 < 

number of pupils who have been admitted to the household 
of faith." On this point it is very significant that while the 
whole number of living communicants is reported this year 
to be only 395, the number of church-members received 
from the seminary in all was reported last year to be 385, 
and from the girls' boarding-school, 136=521. After mak- 
ing due allowance for the number of deaths, and pupils re- 
ceived to the Church from the other schools, it becomes 
evident that the blessing of God has rested preeminently 
on these schools, making them the chief agency in propa- 
gating Christianity in the district of Jaffna, 

1855-6. — "We have traced the educational history of this 
mission from its origin. We have seen how the blessing of 
God came down upon its schools, converting the pupils and 
teachers, gladdening the hearts of the missionaries, and eli- 
citing from the Board and its Committees and patrons, here 
at home, resolutions of commendation to those who planned 
and conducted these schools, and devout thanksgiving to 
God for his blessing upon them. 

The Schools Suppressed! 

And now shall we record the terrible disaster which befell 
this mission in 1855 ? Shall we describe in detail the un- 
happy action of the Deputation, which disbanded many of 
the free schools, and disallowed the Batticotta Seminary? 
That seminary was the brightest hope of the land, the 
choicest, most hopeful result of the 40 years of patient 
and laborious toil in that mission. In the expressive lan- 
guage of S. Merwin, one of its own graduates : " Jaffna is 
the eye of Ceylon, and the Batticotta Seminary the pupil of 
that eye." 

It had been nurtured with prayers, watered with tears 
and the dews of heaven's grace, and grown into the affec- 
tions, loving sympathy, and confidence of praying men and 
women in all parts of America. Its more than 350 converts 
were the witness of God's approval and blessing upon it. 
Is it possible that upon this favored institution, the bright- 
15 



358 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

est light, the most effective agency of the mission, a Depu- 
tation of good men from America laid their hand, and de- 
prived it of its power? Oh ! that this action could be as 
if it had not been ! Oh ! that the lamentations of the dear 
fathers in this mission, as they saw this institution smitten 
down, could be like dreams from which there may be a 
pleasant awaking. But no, the action was taken, and the dis- 
aster has become a fact in all its stern and sorrowful reality. 

We cast no reproach upon the Deputation or those who 
sent them ; but we do pray God to forgive them, believing 
that they knew not what they did. Oh ! that this page of 
missionary history could be blotted out forever, by undoing 
the acts. But as this can not be, may our churches and 
missionary societies gain from it the lessons which God 
Avould have them learn. 

I would not intimate that the action suppressing these 
schools was in direct opposition to the views and wishes of 
all the missionaries. No. The saddest of all the results of 
this authoritative Deputation is to be seen in the divided 
councils, and the breaches of Christian sympathy and love, 
caused among brethren who had long labored and prayed 
together in the bonds of Christian brotherhood, breaches 
the healing of which will be one of the most precious 
triumphs of God's grace. 

During both these years the customary annual commit- 
tees on this mission have no reports recorded in the Annual 
Report of the Board, an ominous silence ! The Committee, 
in 1855, did indeed present a report, faithfully calling in 
question the doings of the Deputation ; but it found no 
place in the printed record. Why is this ? Will the Pru- 
dential Committee admit no statements into their records, 
from their own committees even, unless they be in their 
praise? But let us cast a mantle of chanty over their 
doings, though we cease not to grieve for the disaster they 
brought upon the missions. Against the wisdom of their 
action in suppressing these schools, this brief statement of 
Father Spaulding, our oldest living missionary on Ceylon, 
should be engraved as a perpetual record and testimony, till 



THE SCHOOLS SUPPRESSED. 339 

the heathen shall be all converted. This dear old missiona- 
ry, speaking from the depths of his soul, and his own per- 
sonal experience of nearly forty years' labor in the mission, 
still standing amidst the ruins of these schools, nobly testi- 
fies : " The simple preaching of the Gospel among the people of 
India, ivhen catechisms and Scripture history are not, and have 
not been, taught to the children, has, thus far, had very little 
effect. Conversion simply by preaching, as the term is gene- 
rally used, is yet, to a very great extent, theory T 

Speaking of the reports prepared in the mission, under 
the influence of the Deputation laboring to justify the 
changes they dictated, Father Spaulding says : " To restore 
things to their right position, 1 ivould advise the entire ignoring 
of the twenty -one reports" So deeply was he penetrated with 
the conviction that those reports misrepresented the honest 
judgment of the missionaries, and perilled the dearest inter- 
ests of the mission. 

The special meeting at Albany, and the appointment of a 
special committee of thirteen, to investigate and calm the 
troubled elements, show that the minds and hearts of the 
missionaries and many friends of the Board were deeply 
moved. To that committee Father Spaulding appealed as to 
his last hope. Their report and the action of the Board at 
Newark are somewhat known to the public. The action 
of the Deputation was slightly modified in some respects, 
but the restrictions resting on the Batticotta Seminary were 
such that it has not been reopened by the mission. Its 
brightest light was put out, and this desolation was wrought, 
not by an enemy, but by those who claim to be the best 
friends of the cause. 

Peruse again the history of God's blessing on these 
schools. Read over the repeated resolutions and records of 
the Board in commendation of them, and who would believe 
it possible that they could have come to such an end? 
When they were disbanded and restricted for want of funds 
in 1837, a general voice of lamentation was raised by all 
who loved the Board. Does not their suppression in 1855 
present cause for deeper and more prolonged grief? 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SCHOOLS OF OUR MADURA AND MADRAS MISSIONS. 
MADURA. 

1834.— The Madura mission of the A.B.C.F.M. was com- 
menced in 1834. The record is : "In July Mr. Hoisington 
and Mr. Todd, with three native assistants, commenced a 
mission here, and soon established two small schools — one 
for each sex." 

Importance of Schools. 

In 1835, " the mission was employed in establishing 
schools in the city and adjacent villages." 

In 1836, "Oct. 30, a church was organized, with nine native 
members, all from Jaffna. Of 13 native helpers, 8 had been 
educated at Batticotta. At the close of the year, 37 schools 
had been opened, of which 30 were in operation — 9 in Ma- 
dura, and the others in the neighboring villages. They 
contained 1149 boys and 65 girls." All the teachers of these 
schools were heathen or Koman Catholics. " No others could 
be obtained, and even if they could be obtained, the parents 
ivould not send their children to them" 

The records of the mission bring to view the great diffi- 
culty of overcoming the fears and prejudices of the people, 
so that they might be willing to send their children to 
school, and expresses a very high estimate of the value of 
these schools. "The schools accomplish several important 
objects. They will raise up a numerous class of good read- 
ers. Very few of the people can now read fluently." 



IMPORTANCE OF SCHOOLS. 341 

"Again, by means of schools we gain access to the parents 
of the children, and their friends. Most of the people attach 
some value to schools. By our giving their children an 
education, they see and acknowledge that we are their bene- 
factors." 

" In the city we have two schools for teaching the Eng- 
lish language and science. The number of scholars in both 
is 89." 

The value of these schools, in the estimation of European 
friends, is attested by frequent and generous donations for 
their support. 

Three Brahman youths from the English school are men- 
tioned as the first inquirers, and the hope expressed that 
they were " under the guidance of the good Spirit." 

1837. — The two first converts of this mission were re- 
ceived into the Church the 30th of July this year ; their 
names were Joseph and Kamache. Both had been in the 
employment of the mission, and thus came under the influ- 
ence and teaching of the truth. It is distinctly stated that 
one was a teacher, and probably the other was also. This 
was the year of the terrible retrenchment for want of funds, 
and it pressed hard upon this as well as upon the other mis- 
sions. After dismissing some of their pupils, one of the 
missionaries writes : " It would have awakened no slight 
emotion in the bosom of benevolence, to see those girls rise 
from their knees and go from the family altar to hide behind 
the pillars of our verandah, and weep. Yes, they could not 
refrain ; and what added to my sorrow, was that our Saviour 
had said : ' Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid 
them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.' His word 
has been confirmed by his providence and grace at Oodoo- 
ville. Not one girl has ever left that institution who did 
not profess attachment to Jesus. And who is it that forbids 
these ? The disciples did it before, and it was not an enemy 
that forbid them now, else we could have borne it. . . . 
If I had a voice that could reach half-way round the globe, 
I would cry, not only in behalf of the girls of Dindigul and 
Madura, but of Madras and Ceylon and Bombay and all 



342 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Asia: ? Come over and help us ; send us money, if you do 
not wish to come } r ourselves.' " 

In June of this year the schools had increased to 60, with 
2284 scholars. " Nearly all must have been closed, had not 
the Madras government, learning the circumstances, made 
an unexpected donation of £300 sterling for their support." 

" Of the school-teachers employed by the mission, two are 
Protestants, four Eoman Catholics, and the others heathen." 
" We attach great importance to our schools, as means of 
access to the people." " We had several applications for 
admission to the Church from school-masters, whose minds 
have evidently been enlightened by the truths of the Gos- 
pel, if not their hearts converted." 

1838. — April 1st, Mr. Poor writes : " The whole number 
of schools is 59 ; average of pupils, 2173." He speaks of 
the schools " as so many lights held out in this benighted 
•city." Of the school-system he says : " It holds out the fair- 
est prospect for bringing the overtures of the Gospel before 
the minds of the people at large. When I converse pri- 
vately with our school-masters, and urge upon them the 
immediate claims of the Gospel, there is a response to the 
truth which is not witnessed in the case of the uninstructed. 
Thus it is, to some extent, with the monitors and children 
who are brought under instruction in the schools." 

It is worthy of notice how closely this testimony accords 
with our experience in the Ahmednuggur mission, where all 
our best native preach ers and helpers were brought under 
Christian instruction and converted to God, while employed 
as heathen teachers, or while pupils in the seminary. 

In 1839 the mission reports 73 native free schools, besides 
English and boarding-schools at all the stations. Their esti- 
mate of the schools is clearly indicated in all their letters 
and reports. Of their preaching audiences they say : " They 
embrace about two thirds of the pupils of the English school, 
the school-masters of the city, persons employed in mission 
families, and a few occasional attendants." No stated attend- 
ants but those connected with the schools or families. " The 
obvious and substantial advantages of our schools go far to- 



IMPORTANCE OF SCHOOLS. 343 

wards reconciling the parents to the j)rominence we give to 
Christianity in all our printed books, and our whole course 
of instruction — such a prominence as would be tolerated in 
but few schools in Christian lands." " The scholars exhibit 
a deportment every way encouraging to the missionary. 
Some of the older boys have asked for baptism." " Boys 
in the boarding-school are the most attentive audience." 
11 Were there funds at command, a blow might now be 
struck that would soon make heathenism ashamed. I know 
of no object to which I would more cheerfully contribute. 
To pluck these heathen • youth from the paths of the de- 
stroyer, and to place them where they can be trained for 
doing good, instead of evil, is an object worthy of the 
prayers and contributions of all who love the cause of truth. 
Does not the finger of God point to this as the plain duty 
of the Church? Will it be said, the expense can not be 
afforded ? Let the results of the Ceylon mission be com- 
pared with those of missions in India generally, and it would 
appear, so as not to be misunderstood, that we can not afford 
to do otherwise." 

In view of the character and results of these schools, we 
do not wonder that the editor of the Missionary Herald re- 
marks: "All these efforts are so directed as to have a pow- 
erful and salutary religious bearing on both pupils and 
teachers. Probably in no other manner can the same number 
of children and youth be brought under so steady and favorable 
a religious influence.' 1 '' 

In 1810 the mission reports 96 free schools, with 3087 
pupils, and 6 boarding-schools, with 109 pupils. 

This rapid enlargement in school operations shows clearly 
the high estimate the missionaries put upon them, and their 
reports and letters abound in evidence to the same effect. 
After stating the number and character of their schools, 
they add: "Thus it appears, that on our present scale of 
operations, we are yearly sending out into this heathen com- 
munity a thousand lads, who in a short time are to take the 
places of their fathers, with minds somewhat enlightened, 
and memories stored with all the important and saving doc- 



otL4 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

trines of the Bible. The great majority of these, we may 
safely say, but for our schools, would grow up under the 
most heathen and demoralizing influences, with scarcely a 
single counteracting good influence. The parents of the 
families to which these thousand boys belong, must, of ne- 
cessity, listen to the recital of some gospel truth, to which, 
till now, they were entire strangers. It is not an uncom- 
mon thing, in passing along the streets, to be hailed by men 
repeating some of the simple questions and answers of our 
first catechism. From these facts, and many others of which 
we are in possession, it appears to us evident that a leaven 
is working, which, under the divine blessing, must eventu- 
ally produce a great moral change in this mass of heathen 
population. This is only one view, of many which might 
be taken of our common free-school system. In the school- 
room we often find our largest and best congregations." 

A Little Boy seven years old asking Baptism. 

" The boarding-school contains 21 boys, most of whom 
are making good progress in their studies, and I have some 
reason to hope that a few are seeking that wisdom, the be- 
ginning of which is the fear of the Lord. One little boy 
seven years old, the smallest in the school, and from a 
heathen family, asked me some time since to baptize him. 
I sent him away with some slight remark, as I supposed it 
a mere childish notion, which had arisen from his having 
seen the children of the mission families baptized. After 
some 'time, lie came again with the same request. I asked 
him why he wished to receive baptism ? He replied that 
he was a sinner, and wished to be born again, that he might 
become one of God's children — with other remarks of the 
kind. A few days afterwards I called on him and repeated 
the same questions, to which he replied as before. ' You 
told me,' I said, 'that you wished to be baptized so that you 
might be born again, and become a child of God. Do you 
think that, by receiving baptism, you will be born again ?' 
He replied : 'If I hate and forsake every sin, and believe in 



A LITTLE BOY OF SEVEN YEARS ASKING BAPTISM. Uo 

Christ and pray to God, and he gives me his Holy Spirit, 
then I shall be born again.' < But you are a little boy, and 
if you become a Christian your friends may persecute you 
and tell you that you must forsake the Lord Jesus Christ' 
W hat will you say when they do so?' He answered by a 
single but very emphatic Tamil word : 'I will not,' < But 
are you able to do this by your own strength ?' < If God 
give me his Holy Spirit, and I pray to him, I shall have 
strength. < Do you commit sin now ?' I asked. ' No sir ' 
' Do you never tell lies ?' < No, sir, not now ; when f was 
a heathen I told lies., but none since.' < Do you never get 
angry?' He hung down his head as he acknowledged that 
he sometimes did get angry. < Well, do you pray V < Yes 
sir, every day.' < How do you pray ? Do you repeat a 
prayer you have committed to memory ?' < I pray with my 
whole heart.' < What do you ask for '? What do you wish 
above all other things V < That God would give me a new 
heart, and make me his child.' 

" After other conversations of a similar nature," says the 
missionary, "I kneeled down and prayed that the great 
Shepherd would make this dear child one of his flock. Be- 
fore rising he also poured out his heart in few and simple 
but most appropriate petitions that God would give him his 
Holy Spirit, make him his child, and finally take him to 
heaven. As he arose, his eyes were filled with tears, and 
my own thoughts were irresistibly carried back to many a 
happy scene in America, where I have been surrounded 
by a group of children pouring out their tears and their 
hearts before God. A few of the larger boys also are in 
the habit of constant prayer, not only in private but with 
the other boys, and I would fain hope that the Lord has 
begun a good work in their hearts." 

With such evidence of God's blessing on these schools, we 
do not wonder to hear the officers of the Board say : " The 
time has now come for establishing a seminary in this mission, 
of the same general nature with that in the Ceylon mission;' 
and the Committee expect to authorize the commencement 
of it as soon as the state of the funds will permit." 



346 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

In proof of the happy and elevating influence of the free 
schools, facts and incidents crowd upon the missionaries too 
numerous for record. On preaching-tours, among twenty 
villages where the people are utterly indifferent to the truth, 
and know not how to read, one is found where the people 
crowd around the missionary, eager for books and glad to 
listen to his message. The reason is found to be, that in 
this one village, a mission school had formerly existed. 

The Little Girl who would not Break the Sabbath. 

" Some of the children in our schools are obtaining an 
amount of Scripture knowledge which is encouraging. I 
have just heard of a conversation which a little girl had 
with her mother a few days since, which will illustrate this. 
The mother had directed the daughter to prepare the mate- 
rials for cleansing their house on the succeeding daj 7 , which 
was the Sabbath ; against this the daughter expostulated 
very strongly. 'Why, mother,' she says, 'to-morrow is the 
Sabbath, and how can we work upon that day ?' ' Then/ 
says the mother, ' our house will be unclean, and how can 
we stay in it?' 'But,' continues the daughter, 'it is God's 
command, mother, that we should do no work on the Sab- 
bath, and that we should sanctify that day.' Here she re- 
peated the fourth command; 'and besides, mother,' she 
says, ' if our hearts are clean, we shall not be troubled with 
the impurity of the house.' It is sufficient to say the house 
was not cleansed ; and now that mother gives us some rea- 
son to hope that her heart has been changed." 

Can we have more convincing proof of the blessed influ- 
ence of Christian teaching on these young hearts ? Take 
the following incident from the pen of a missionary : "A 
day or two since, while returning from one of the out-schools, 
I met some of my scholars in the north quarter of the town, 
and went with them to their houses. The parents seemed 
to welcome me cordially, and after I had looked into their 
houses, and made some inquiries about their domestic com- 
forts and habits, as I was in the principal room of one of 



VALUE OF HEATHEN TEACHERS. 347 

the houses, I was asked to pray by one of the children. I said 
they might call in their neighbors. They did so, and we had 
a very pleasing and to me novel meeting." 

And is it possible that such schools are to be disallowed ? 
The missionaries have clung to them through all the history 
of the Board — their letters and lives are one mass of testi- 
mony to their value. " We have often remarked," they write, 
" that our school- masters, heathen as they are, act for us the 
important part of pioneers. They open for us a door of 
access to the people ; they do much to silence objections 
and to remove prejudice, and impart useful knowledge." 

There were twelve additions to the churches this year, 
marking the more direct blessing of Grod upon the labors 
and agencies of the mission. The case of one of them, a 
heathen teacher, is narrated in detail, and both for the depth 
of his conviction and the much he had to suffer for Christ, 
the account awakens deep interest and sympathy. 

In 1811, the whole number of pupils reported in one 
English school, seven boarding, and eighty-two free schools, 
is 3304. The missionary says : " Pupils and teachers have 
acquired a large amount of divine knowledge. I would 
fain hope and earnestly pray that it may be productive of 
good to their immortal spirits." "The state of religious 
feeling for some time past has been such as to give me 
much encouragement. From the middle of last year a few 
of the boys seemed awakened to a sense of their condition 
as perishing sinners. Soon afterwards three of the larger 
boys gave very pleasing evidence that they had been taught 
of the Holy Spirit. They appear to hunger and thirst after 
righteousness." " They were admitted to the Church last 
February." " A few of the other boys are seriously in- 
clined, and feel it to be their duty to converse with their 
friends and others on the subject of personal religion." 

" Those bo}^s who are members of the Church give me 
all the evidence I could expect, and, indeed, all that I could 
desire, that they really love the service of the blessed Sav- 
iour. Two or three others give much reason to hope that 
they have chosen the Lord as their portion. Most of the 



348 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

boys are in the daily habit of prayer and reading the Scrip- 
tures, and I can not but hope that the Lord has still rich 
blessings in store for some of them, whom he will make pol- 
ished shafts in his quiver." 

The reports of this year mention eleven new admissions 
to the Church — " Three of the larger boys of the boarding- 
school at Tiramungulum ; " three more at Sivagunga, and 
five at Dindigul. Both pupils and teachers were active in 
makiDg known the truth to others, even while subjected to 
much reproach and abuse. 

In 1842 the schools had so increased as to embrace 4085 
pupils, 200 of whom were boarding scholars. The pro- 
posed seminary was commenced this year, September i, 
with 34 pupils, 10 of whom were members of the Church. 
Nearly all the most cheering results and prospects of the 
mission are traced, as usual, to the schools. As an illus- 
tration of this fact take the following : 

The Praying Girl and her Father. 

" Mrs. Cherry's girls' school prospers beyond our expec- 
tation. In July the father of one of the little girls came to 
my study, apparently in trouble. He stood a little time, 
and before he had uttered his first sentence he began to weep. 
1 Sir,' said he, f what can I do ? My little daughter kneels 
down with me and my wife and repeats the Lord's prayer.' 
I answered : ' That is well.' Said he : ' We tried to make 
her stop, but she continued it, and we thought we would let 
her ; but oh ! it makes me feel so bad ! I want to be a 
Christian.' In the evening he came with his brother, who 
from having oftener attended our services, knew more of 
divine truth. They asked for baptism. I talked with them 
a long time, and believe they felt earnest and honest in their 
wishes." 

" All the girls now with us, 26 in number, are in the 
habit of prayer, and I am strong in the hope that they are 
those designated by our compassionate Lord as ' of the king- 
dom of heaven." 



SPECIAL VALUE OF BOAKDlXU-SCHOOi 



Special Value of Boarding-Schools. 

Of his boarding-school Mr. Muzzy says : " This school 
has afforded us more encouragement than any other means 
we have been enabled to use. There has been scarcely a 
time for six months past that some of its members have not 
appeared serious, and, in some degree, anxious for the sal- 
vation of their souls ; and in one or two instances, we en- 
tertain hopes that the change we see in their appearance and 
life is a real transformation from darkness to God's marvel- 
lous light." " I have ascertained that some of the boys in 
the boarding-school not only observe seasons of secret pray- 
er themselves, but take some of the other boys apart and 
hold little meetings with them." " Last evening one of the 
boarding-school boys remained after evening service and 
desired conversation and prayers ; he also wished to unite 
with the Church." " The feeling appears to be very gen- 
eral that the religion of this people is to be superseded by 
another, which is to be the only true religion." 

The only additions to the churches traceable in the re- 
ports of this year are two, stated in the Missionary Herald 
of December as follows : 

" Mr. Tracy mentions in his journal that two of the 
school -boys, who appeared to have correct views of the way 
of salvation, and of their own character and desert as sin- 
ners, had applied for admission to the church at Tiramun- 
gulum, and had been received." 

In 1843 are reported 114 free schools, with 3353 pupils, 
besides 173 in select schools, 195 boarding pupils, 30 in the 
seminary, and 36 preparandi. " The small expense of the 
free schools, compared with the beneficial results which ac- 
crue, is deserving of notice. The teaching under the super- 
vision of the Dindigul station alone, the last year, was equal 
to the labors of one man twenty-five }^ears, and cost less 
than at the rate of $20 a year, or less than $1.50 a year for 
each pupil. The effect of the instruction communicated on 
the minds of the children, in disciplining them and qualify- 
ing them to distinguish between truth and error, and on 



350 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

their moral feelings, is great and salutary. ' We very much 
doubt,' say the missionaries, ' whether there be a child se- 
lected from our schools, after six months' or a year's train- 
ing, who will admit for example the existence of more 
gods than one, or will reject this first element of all correct 
knowledge in religion.' In this manner these schools, if 
they do not fully supply the defect of early religious train- 
ing in the family, are constantly counteracting the influence 
of those errors and absurdities with which heathen parents 
fill the minds of their children, and thus are preparing the 
way for them to hear intelligently the preaching of the Gos- 
pel, and to admit the truth of its doctrines." 

The missionaries urge that their seminary and schools 
should be enlarged. Of their boarding-schools they say : 
" The conduct of the boys has been respectful and proper, 
and some of them have been serious and anxiously in- 
quiring what they shall do to be saved." " The desire for 
religious conversation has been so great, that scarcely an 
evening has passed for weeks in which some of the boys 
have not come to my study for private conversation and 
prayer." 

This quite prepares us to read : " Three boys from the 
English boarding - school were received to the Church." 
" Since my last, three from the seminary and one from the 
boarding-school have been received into the Church." It 
prepares us, also, for this summary statement in the report 
of the Board : 

" It is an important fact, also, that, from the pupils in the 
hoarding-schools nearly all the 40 converts ivho have the last 
year been received to the mission churches, have been gathered. 
A number more from among these pupils are candidates for 
church-fellowship." 

Forty converts the harvest of this year, and " nearly all " 
from " the boarding schools" ! 

In 18 44 the missionaries write : " Today the Lord's sup- 
per has been administered, and one of the boys in the board- 
ing-school, who has long been on trial, has been admitted 
to the Church ; nine others are candidates for the privilege 



SPECIAL VALUE OF BOARDING-SCHOOLS. 351 

at a future time." When, a "benevolent society" was 
formed for supporting schools and catechists, "the boys in 
the boarding-schools " were foremost in the work, and even 
ready to go "without part of a meal twice each week," to 
save money for the purpose. " A class six in number and 
all hopefully pious, graduated in Februaiy." " Of the girls 
in the boarding-school we hope to admit two to the Church 
to-morrow." " There are tokens of the Spirit's presence in 
the boarding-school which have encouraged our hearts." 
" The blessing of God has hitherto, we believe, attended 
our labors in the seminary. Nearly one half of the pupils 
are professors of religion, including the whole of the first 
class." " The boarding-school for boys has 41 pupils, of 
whom 11 are candidates for admission to the Church. In 
the girls' school' there are 45 constant attendants. Two have 
been added to the Church, and there are 14 candidates for 
admission." " The girls' boarding-school at Madura East 
has 33 scholars ; and it has not been without some tokens 
of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The preparandi class, 
designed to prepare school-masters and readers for the vil- 
lages, is prosperous. Ten young men have been connected 
with it during the year. Six are candidates for admission 
to the Church." 

1845. — This year shows an increase in the schools, the 
whole number of pupils being 3891. The increase was 
mostly in the seminary and boarding-schools. Of the for- 
mer it is reported: "In May the number. had risen to 61, 
of whom 16 were members of the Church. Of the class 
which finished the course of study last year, all entered into 
the service of the mission as helpers." " Of the progress 
in study, good conduct and promise of usefulness of the pu- 
pils, the missionaries speak with great encouragement." 
" Two or three of the students are now candidates for 
church membership. Many seem to feel the truth, and 
some are in the habit of stated private prayer. In the 
boarding-school " several of the boys are seriously inclined, 
and have asked for baptism." 



352 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Schools secure Village Congregations. 

la 1846 the number of pupils in the schools had in- 
creased to 4171, and "the native churches had an acces- 
sion of 97 members." These, as heretofore, were gathered 
in from the schools and the " Christian villages," so called, 
that is, villages which had placed themselves under Christ- 
ian instruction for certain considerations, the most valuable 
of which, in their estimation, was a school. Hence the re- 
port says : " The great extension of the school system has 
resulted from the peculiar circumstances of the mission. 
Nearly 50 of the free schools and nearly 1000 of the pu- 
pils are in the ' Christian villages.' The least we can do 
for these villages, . . is to establish schools in them." 

From the urgent desire of the people for education " has 
arisen the system of village free schools, the select schools, 
the boarding-schools, and the seminary." 

Of the 61 students in the seminary " 20 are members of 
the Church, 6 having been received during the year." 
" All the members of the first class, except two, are com- 
municants." 

Of the girls' boarding-school at East-Madura, " Nine of 
the pupils were admitted to the Church during the year, and 
six are candidates." "All the boys of the boarding-school 
go regularly to their closets, either in small companies or 
alone, to read the Scriptures and pray." " There was un- 
usual attention to the subject of religion in the girls' board- 
ing-school." 

Of the seminary at Pasumalee it is reported: "The pre- 
sent number of students is 56" — " Of these 20 are members 
of the Church, of whom eight have been admitted to Christ- 
ian fellowship within the past year." There were onlv 
" six members of the Church at P., who were not pupils of 
the seminary." 

A good number of the heathen teachers are included 
among those received to the Church, and the candidates for 
admission. 

1847 was a year of trial in this mission. An attempt to 



SCHOOLS SECURE VILLAGE CONGREGATIONS. 858 

root out caste from the native clmrcb, resulted in the sepa- 
ration from the mission of some 72 converts and a large 
number of scholars. The schools were still farther reduced 
for want of funds. "In consequence of a reduction in the 
appropriation made by the Committee for schools, the mis- 
sion has reduced the number of pupils in the common 
schools from 8803 to 2306." This act was a painful one 
to the mission. 

Mr. Muzzy writes of his station : "Four or five hundred 
scholars, who have been learning the Scriptures, who were 
assembled every Thursday to hear them explained, who 
committed to memory scriptural catechisms, and who heard 
the Gospel on the Sabbath and other days, are now depriv- 
ed of all these privileges, and are under heathen influences 
entirely." The report of the mission says: "The reduc- 
tion of the schools to one half the number of last year, is 
very sudden and great, and is calculated to shake the pub- 
lic confidence in the stability of the mission, and thus hin- 
der the progress of the Gospel." The mission earnestly 
remonstrated against further reduction of the schools, thus 
attesting their high appreciation of these agencies, which is 
also evinced by statements like the following, showing the 
blessed results of these schools. " In the English school 
for boys, four have recently requested baptism." "At 
Pulney, three school-masters have expressed a desire to 
unite with our Church and receive baptism." 

" The whole number of students who have been connect- 
ed with our seminary from its commencement is 92. . . 
Of the whole number, 37 have been professors of religion." 
" Of the class which graduated in May last, nine (out of 
eleven) were members of the Church." "All of the class 
which has recently graduated, (with the exception of two, 
who have gone to Madras,) are in the service of the 
mission." 

In 1848, several of the pupils became members of the 
Church and others were candidates. The influence of the 
schools in gathering " village congregations " and converts 
from them, is abundantly manifest. The report says : " The 



354 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

congregations which, assembled at station churches, are com- 
posed of the free school children, teachers, and monitors, 
the boarding-school boys, and the girls," " ten to fifteen 
strangers" being drawn in from curiosity. The adults 
drawn in, were for the most part " the parents of school- 
children," thus showing the influence of the schools in se- 
curing adult hearers. 

Of the seminary the missionary writes : " The conduct of 
the students has been very exemplary ; and several of them 
give me reason to hope that they have passed from death 
unto life. Four of them are candidates for admission to the 
Church." 

The missionary at Dindigul writes : " Last January five 
persons were received into the Church — three were school- 
masters at out-stations. The other two were members of 
our English school." " A short time since, a lad about six- 
teen years old, came to me and said he formerly belonged 
to the English school at this place, that he now wished to 
be baptized and make an open profession of religion. I 
think it my duty to receive him into the Church." 

Mr. Herrick writes : "I became much interested in a 
"little boy ten years of age, and a member of one of these 
schools. The catechist pointed him out to me, saying that 
he regularly attended morning prayers, and often prayed 
himself that his parents might become worshippers of the 
true Glod. Before I left, the little boy came to me and said, 
with much apparent thoughtfulness : ' Sir, I have become a 
Christian. As I daily go to the bazaar, I meet many little 
boys who worship idols. What shall I say to them ? ' A 
heathen man who stood by, bore witness to the boldness 
with which the little fellow acknowledged Christ wherever 
he went." 

A Revival in the Seminary. 

In 1849, the whole number of pupils in the schools in- 
creased to 2560. The mission says : " We know that much 
good has already been accomplished by schools, in opening 
the way for preaching the Gospel. We believe that preach- 



CHANGE OF POLICY. 355 

ing and teaching, the pulpit and the school, the mission- 
ary and the school-master, acting conjointly, are an effect- 
ual method of propagating the Gospel." The annual 
report says : " The seminary was blessed with an out- 
pouring of the Spirit, in the summer of last year. An 
account of the revival of religion in the seminaries among 
the Nestorians, excited in teachers and scholars a desire 
for a similar blessing among themselves. ' Several of the 
church members seemed to have received a new spirit 
of earnest, importunate prayer, and a day was subse- 
quently set apart for special prayer and fasting. The 
meetings were deeply solemn, and I never witnessed more 
earnest prayers than were offered by some of the native 
members of the Church. The general feeling of solemnity 
was increased, and several of the most hopeless of the stu- 
dents were brought under conviction, and I trust were led 
to the foot of the cross. Nine or ten are now indulging the 
hope that they have been born again, and several others, 
with a greater or less degree of interest, are inquiring what 
they must do to be saved.' 

" Nine of these converts were admitted to the Church at 
the close of the year. Several others were regarded as can- 
didates for admission, and there were still indications of the 
divine presence." 

Change of Policy and Retrenchment. 

And yet, notwithstanding these blessed results of the 
schools, the same report of the Board discloses the unhap- 
py change in the views of the Secretary and Prudential 
Committee in regard to them. It says: "The prudential 
Committee doubt if the higher missionary schools, called 
seminaries, should be formed at the outset of missions, as 
they have often been." " The Committee express a doubt 
as to the propriety of the frequent employment of profess- 
edly heathen masters. They would also declare their be- 
lief, that schools are no where necessary precursors of the 
preaching of the Gospel, nor necessary attendants upon its 
merely aggressive operations in pagan communities." 

Here was a manifest change of views on the part of the 



Sd6 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

executive officers. The sentiments expressed are direct!} 
in conflict with their former views, as well as with th( 
views and practice of the missions. 

The reader will bear in mind the accordant and uniform 
statements of the officers of the Board up to this date. In 
regard to these very schools with heathen teachers, they had 
repeatedly placed sentiments on record as follows : "Schools 
of this kind are too important an auxiliary to the mission- 
ary to be abandoned." Though their teachers are heathen, 
they " may be an excellent channel for conveying Christian 
knowledge to the minds of the pupils, the teachers, the parents, 
and the friends of cdl connected with the schools." 

What inference ought to be made from these conflicting 
statements ? Was there a change of views, or was there 
not? (See Report of Deputation, p. 9.) 

In 1850, the retrenchment in the schools was so great 
that only 1523 pupils are reported, in all, though the mis- 
sionaries put on record facts, and give utterance to convic- 
tions showing the value of these agencies no less than be- 
fore. Of one of the boarding-schools it is said : "Five of 
the girls have been received to. the Church, and it is hoped 
that some others have been renewed." The English school 
is reported as "still flourishing," supported as usual, mostly 
by English friends, and the great value of all the schools is 
dwelt upon, especially in securing a large amount of Christ- 
ian knowledge instilled into the minds of the pupils, and 
disseminated widely among the people. Mr. Muzzy writes : 
" I often meet, in my excursions for preaching, young men 
who have studied in these schools formerly ; and they uni- 
formly, as" far as I know, not only understand the most of 
what we say, and approve of it, but actually stand up for 
the truth, and argue in its defense with those who oppose 
it. And many of those who have been any time under in- 
struction, and have afterwards obtained employment, either 
under government or rich natives, have a name for probity 
and uprightness which was not known in others who occu- 
pied the same places before them. The heathen notice this, 
and speak of it, as the ' fruit of the padres' schools.' " 



CHANGE OF POLICY. 857 

Choicer fruit from these schools is reported as follows : 

" Early in December I had the pleasure of admitting nine 
of the students to the privileges of the Church ; and at our 
last communion service, which occurred a few weeks ago, 
seven more were received into the fold of Christ." " Only 
two are now left in the seminary, who are not members of 
the Church ; and at the close of the term, a few da}*s since, 
one of these was inquiring what he should do to be saved." ' 
" I am more and more convinced, every day, that the work 
which has been accomplished in the seminary, has been of 
God, and not of man." 

In 1851, the seminary " had twenty-seven pupils at the 
close of the year, of whom twenty were members of the 
Church." " Of the whole number of students from the be- 
ginning, forty-eight have been members of the Church, and 
eighteen are known to have engaged in missionary work." 
"The state of religious feeling in the seminary has been 
such as to afford encouragement." " The English school, 
still supported by the liberality of English residents, is suc- 
cessful." " The girls' day-schools are said to be prosperous." 

In 1852, the whole number of pupils rose to 1883. 
" Two young men graduated from the seminary, during 
the year, and are usefully employed in the service of the 
mission." " The English school reports one hundred and 
sixteen pupils." " In the boarding-school at Sivagunga, an 
interesting state of religious feeling has existed ; several of 
the boys, it is hoped, have been truly converted ; and two 
have been received to the Church." In the girls' boarding- 
school at Madura East, " quite a number have been anxious 
in regard to their spiritual interests — four were received to 
the Church, and seven others were seeking admission." 

It is well to note the gradual change in this mission in 
the character of the schools. For many years, all were for 
heathen children, and taught by heathen teachers. As 
converts were obtained, and became fitted to teach, they 
gradually supplanted the heathen teachers ; and the offer 
of schools availing to secure "village congregations" of 
those who pledged themselves to forsake idolatry and thus 



858 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

became nominal Christians, these schools became numerous, 
and the schools for heathen children diminished. But it 
should be observed that the effective influence in obtaining 
these " village congregations" at first, and in giving them 
Christian instruction and eventually bringing individuals 
of them into the Church, was the schools. The report re- 
cognizes this fact, and says : " The teachers, in most cases, 
instruct not only the children of the schools, but the adult 
members of the congregations." Eegular, stated, long-con- 
tinued instruction in Christian truth, by means of schools, 
is the agency which God has preeminently blessed in this, 
as in all our other missions ; the schools being the chief 
centres of influence, the nurseries especially blessed in the 
conversion of the pupils, and fountains whence emanated 
the influence which arrested attention, awakened thought, 
and resulted in the conversion of others. Hence we read 
in the frequent reports, statements like the following: "Five 
persons were recently admitted to the Church at Madura 
East, four of them being pupils in the girls' boarding- 
school." " A number of the girls seem to be solicitous in 
regard to the salvation of their souls ; and six or eight are 
anxious to join the Church." 

" After returning from the Sanitarium in October, I no- 
ticed unusual attention, on the part of the boys in our 
boarding-school, to the preached Grospel and to the Bible 
lessons. A degree of seriousness and thoughtfulness seem- 
ed to pervade the school, which I had not previously seen. 
I invited all who had any special desire to converse upon 
the subject of personal religion to call at my room. Five 
of the larger boys came, and said they had resolved to be 
Christians. A few evenings afterwards, all the boys came 
and declared their determination to serve the Lord. The 
Holy Spirit was manifestly at work." 

In 1853, we find the whole number of pupils in the 
schools to be only 1395. The detailed reports of these 
schools show their high value in the estimation of the 
mission, and their effective influence in securing its great 
objects. Of the 33 pupils in the seminary, " 18 are mem- 



CHANGE OF POLICY, 359 

bers of the Church." Of the 15 preparandi scholars, " 12 
are members of the Church." " The religious state of the 
institution is encouraging." "Ten of the pupils united 
with the Church during the year ; and the report mentions 
ten or twelve, not members of the Church, who were ac- 
customed to attend a weekly inquiry meeting, and seem- 
ed seriously desirous to know and do the will of God." 
" Three young men were received into the Church at our 
last communion season, and others are desirous of the same 
privilege." 

The missionaries' estimate of these schools is often appar- 
ent. Mr. Muzzy, speaking of a new congregation, says : 

" The movement appears to have resulted from a blessing 
on the day-school among them." " Many of these persons 
have been instructed in schools, or in missionary families ; 
and they have a much better knowledge of the Scriptures 
than others who have not had their privileges." Mr. Chand- 
ler says : " Our boarding-school is in a very hopeful state. 
Some are candidates for admission to the Church. Those 
received to the Church at the close of last year, have con- 
tinued to adorn their profession." 

In 1854, the schools report in all 1229 pupils. Of the 44 
in the seminary " 15 have been received into the Church." 
"They all seem to be walking in the fear of God. They 
have manifested a pleasing interest in the spiritual welfare 
of their impenitent companions." " Four graduated in 
March, and have since been profitably employed in the 
service of the mission," and also 14 preparandi scholars. 

" The English school has 137 pupils." 

The annual report of this year frankly admits that "for- 
merly those who joined the churches were generally from 
the schools, or the native helpers of the mission;" while it 
expresses gratification that now the greatest accessions come 
from the village congregations. But these village congre- 
gations were traceable to these same schools. 

1855 commenced with 1147 pupils but closed with a dimin- 
ished number. A close inspection of reports reveals the 
fact that two boarding-schools and the industrial school had 



360 MISSION SCHOOLS, 

disappeared, and. also the English school with, its 187 intel- 
ligent and promising young men, and instructions were given 
for abandoning three more of the boarding-schools at a fixed 
point of time. 

The cause of this change of policy is found in the visit of 
the Deputation. 

In connection with the suppression of the English school 
the statement is put on record that "no instance of conver- 
sion has come to our knowledge as the result of this school;' 7 
and yet in the Missionary Herald of July, 1848, only seven 
years previous, eight persons are recorded as converted in 
connection with the English school. They seem to have 
been connected with a branch of the English school, then 
sustained at Dindigul East, but were converted in the "Eng- 
lish school." 

1856. — The report of this year shows 996 scholars in the 
schools still permitted to exist. The most interesting con- 
verts are still found in connection with these schools. The 
report says: "Nine of the pupils (of the girls' boarding- 
school) have, within the year, been received to the privileges 
of the Church." " Ten of these (students in the seminary) 
have been admitted to the privileges of the Church, aud sev- 
eral others have offered themselves as candidates for admis- 
sion." 

We here close this brief account of the Madura mission, 
with devout thanksgiving to God for his precious favor and 
blessing on these schools, and especially that they were not 
suppressed in the early years of the mission bringing upon 
it such a disaster as befell our more recently organized mis- 
sions in Western India. The 1000 or 1200 native commu- 
nicants in this mission are a living testimony to the value 
of these schools and the blessing of Heaven upon them. 

MADRAS MISSION. 

1836. — The only remaining mission in India now connect- 
ed with the American Board, is at Madras. 

This mission was commenced in August, 1836, by the 
Rev. Myron Winslow, D.D., who was joined the following 

month Iyv Dr. Scudder. 



CHIEF HOPES CENTRE 12s" THE SCHOOLS. 361 



Chief Hopes centre in the Schools. 

1837. — The first annual report in 1887 reveals the policy 
and agencies of the mission in speaking of the press, and of 
25 schools with 750 pupils. The Board made no increased 
allowance for these schools for want of funds, and they were 
nearly all closed, but such was the estimate of them by the 
missionaries and European Christians on the ground, that 
contributions came in, ($600 from one friend,) and enabled 
Mr. Winslow to reopen 14 of them in October. 

The importance of these schools is brought to view in the 
frequent and earnest pleas of the missionaries for funds to 
support them. In their letters to the secretaries are such 
statements as the following: "We regret exceedingly: that 
the embarrassments of the Board prevent our having funds 
to continue and even enlarge the schools ; and, as our con*" 
gregations depend so much upon them, we are making an 
effort to acquire here the means of continuing a few." They 
plead for "an efficient and extensive school system; em- 
bracing a high school, boarding-school, and many native 
free schools. Every year's experience convinces us more 
and more that the great hope of missions to such idolaters 
as surround us, must rest on the young, and on. extending to 
them the benefit of a thoroughly Christian education." 

In 1838, the mission reports 16 schools with 500 pupils. 
So deeply -were European Christians impressed with the 
value of these schools that government was induced to grant 
Rs. 3000, and the governor and several other gentlemen 
gave Rs. 100 each, to sustain them through the financial 
distress of the Board. 

In 1839, the printing and schools went on without inter- 
ruption, and one convert was received to church fellowship, 
of whom Dr. Scudder writes : "The man was a school-master. 
named Savoy en." 

In 1840, the profits of the press exceeded the expenses of 

the mission, and the schools were increased. The character 

of these schools appears from the letters of the missionaries. 

They sav : " The school-masters are most of them heathen, 

16 



362 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

but they regularly teach the lessons given from Christian 
books ; and a good degree of faithfulness is secured by regu- 
lating their pay according to the number and progress of the 
pupils." " Positive good is done. Much of the seed sown 
may no doubt appear to be lost, and sometimes it may seem 
worse than lost, because the weeds in a cultivated soil will 
perhaps be more rank than in one wholly neglected. But 
there are pleasing instances of its springing up after many 
days. No mortal can fully appreciate the value of one im- 
portant spiritual truth, lodged in the heart and conscience 
of an immortal being in the early stages of his existence, 
which may shape his character for eternity. It is a grain of 
mustard seed which afterwards becomes a tree." Not only 
are individual conversions referred to in support of this 
view, but the radical and thorough changes effected grad- 
ually in whole communities in India are traced directly to 
these schools. Another school-master was this year received 
to the Church. 

In 1841, the schools and press continued to prosper, and 
a girls' boarding-school was added. Sixteen converts were 
admitted to the Church — one being a European, one or more 
heathen school-masters, two Komanists, and the rest of Christ- 
ian parentage. 

In 1842 we find 16 schools with 616 pupils. Of some of 
the converts admitted to the Church, it is incidentally men- 
tioned that they were former pupils of mission schools. 

In 1843 we rind the schools prosperous, with some 600 
pupils, and they are spoken of with much favor, and as 
eliciting generous contributions from European Christians. 

In 1844, several pupils are spoken of as candidates for 
baptism. The results of the schools were such as to lead 
Mr. Winslow to write: "We ought to have the means of 
supporting three times as many schools as we now have, 
also an efficient high-school, and a boarding-school for girls." 

In 1845 the report of the Board says : " The schools are 
represented as being in an encouraging state. It is the wish 
of the mission to give greater efficiency to this department." 

In 1846, an English school for boys, and also a girls' school 



CONVERTS MOSTLY FROM THE SCHOOLS. 363 

were established. The subscriptions of English friends on 
the ground amounted to some $1850. A heathen teacher 
and some pupils were admitted to the Church. 

In 1847, the schools increased to 23 with 883 pupils. 
Fourteen persons were received to church fellowship. Two 
were a school-master and his wife, two more the father and 
mother of two pupils, themselves inquirers, another was a 
man who had been long employed as a Scripture-reader, an- 
other the eldest lad in the boarding-school ; and one or two 
students in the English school were decoyed away and forci- 
bly confined, after asking baptism — all showing the value 
of the stated teaching and influence of the schools. 

A combination of the natives this year to oppose Christ- 
ianity, shows their estimate of missionary efforts, and espe- 
cially of the schools. " They resolved to exclude from caste 
any and all who send their children to a mission school." 
They were so excited by the baptisms of youth connected 
with the schools, that they got up a petition to the British 
government with 70,000 signatures, praying for a public 
school without the Bible. 

In 1818, after a public examination of the schools, it is 
stated, the result is encouraging, as showing real progress in 
them all." " The foundations of heathenism are weakened 
by the advance of education." Ks. 2282 were liberally con- 
tributed for these schools, by European Christians at Madras, 
and several pupils were admitted to the Church. 

In 1849, the English school had increased from some 90 
to 200 pupils, and all the schools seem to have continued 
prosperous. "Nearly $1000 were contributed for their 
support by friends of the mission in Madras, so that their 
whole expense to the Board has scarcely exceeded $300. 
The schools have been instrumental in leading several of the 
pupils to a saving knowledge of Christ." Five accessions to 
the Church are mentioned as follows : "Two of the pupils 
have become members of our church, and we trust they are 
true Christians. One who was in the boys' school for a 
time, is now a member of a church ; another [pupil] has ex- 
pressed a wish to join our church." Of the whole five, 



864: MISSION SCHOOLS. 

four had .been previously baptized and under Christian 
training. 

In 1850, the report mentions 12 schools still supported by 
English friends. Their general influence and their " value 
in preparing the way of the Lord is certainly not small." 
" Many of the pupils are well acquainted with all the leading 
truths of Christianity, and some are so far impressed in their 
hearts with these truths, that but for the loss of all things, 
which they must incur if they profess Christ, they would ask 
at once to be baptized in his name." 

In 1851, we find 680 pupils reported, and the contribu- 
tions for their support by English residents, $1100. " The 
schools and congregations are in an encouraging state." 
The admissions to the Church in 1850 and 1851 were some 
12 or 15, among whom were both teachers and pupils. 

In 1852, of the more advanced pupils it is said : They are 
as well acquainted with Scripture truth as most lads of their 
age in Christian lands." Es. 2260 were given this year at 
Madras, for the support of these schools. 

In 1853, the high school had 200 pupils, and the number 
in all the schools was 6Q6. "All the scholars attend public 
worship on the Sabbath, and they are also collected in classes 
every Sabbath morning as Sabbath-schools ; so that their 
minds are well stored with Scripture truth." The liberal 
contributions of the English continued. The whole number 
of church members is given as 45, six of whom were added 
this year. Of these, two were received by letter, two were 
teachers in. the mission, one a servant of the mission, and 
the other a promising pupil of the schools. 

In 1854, the report gives 750 pupils in the schools, and 
six admissions to the church by profession, all of them 
young persons trained in the schools and service of the mis- 
sion, two of them being monitors at the time. 

In 1855, it is stated : " The number of school children 
may be about 350." Why this sudden falling off? It was 
the year of the Deputation. And yet the convictions of the 
missionaries are indicated by statements like the following : 
"Hundreds upon hundreds of children and youth of both 



CHIEF INTEREST CENTRES IN THE SCHOOLS. SoO 

sexes have been taught the Scriptures, of whom several, not 
only from the high-schools, but also from the vernacular 
schools, have been baptized." 

In 1856 we find only two hundred and seventy-seven 
pupils in the schools, and though the influence of the Depu- 
tation was less felt in this than in any other of our India 
missions, from the fact that Dr. Winslow was there, yet it is 
evident the prosperity of the mission was seriously affected. 
May a more liberal policy soon be adopted, and the valuable 
schools of this mission be reestablished and enlarged. 

It is an unwelcome duty to close the sketch of each mis- 
sion with such an account of schools disbanded and conse- 
quent desolation, but we can not otherwise be truthful to 
the facts of history. 

And let us cease not to give thanks to God for his rich 
blessing on these effective agencies. Hundreds and thou- 
sands of the dear youth have been converted, and many 
thousands more have been brought to a knowledge of the 
truth, and the way of salvation has been made known more 
widely through these schools than could have been pos- 
sible through any other known human instrumentalities. 
Let this work go on, and a Christian education be given to 
the children and youth of India, and her millions will soon 
be evangelized. The history of each mission of the Board 
in India furnishes the strongest possible testimony on this 
point. 

And the same is true of every other mission of the Board. 
The most successful missions are those where schools have 
been sustained in largest numbers, and a proportionate bless- 
ing has come down upon the people. These schools have 
been the means of rousing and disciplining mind, and of 
bringing the truth of God in contact with the hearts of the 
people. God has honored them and will honor them till 
the world is evangelized. 

We have thus reviewed the history of the schools in the 
missions of the American Board in India. The candid 
reader, will see that they are the agencies preeminently 
blessed of God in each mission, for diffusing widely a know 



366 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

ledge of Christian truth, for enlightening, convincing, and 
converting precious souls, and thus building up the Re- 
deemer's kingdom in that land. The great fact arrived at, 
and the great lesson which should be forever impressed on 
the minds and hearts of Christians by this investigation, is 
involved in the results of the Ceylon Mission, which, con- 
densed, are as follows : 

Total admissions to the Church up to 1854, . . . 825 
Admissions from the two seminaries, . . . . 537 
Heathen teachers converted and rec'd to Church, 80 
Pupils in other schools " " " 60 — Q11 

Total conversions not directly traceable to schools, 148 

In view of such results, is it possible that any impartial 
mind can hesitate as to the value of such mission schools ? 

I would gladly trace the history of each mission of the 
Board in similar detail, and educe its teaching and testi- 
mony on this point, but my limits forbid. I can only pre- 
sent brief notices of three or four of the remaining missions. 



CHAPTER IX. 



MISSIONS TO THE NOKTH- AMERICAN INDIANS. 
Indian Ferocity tamod by the Schools. 

The first attempts of the American Board to evangelize 
the aborigines of our own land, were made in behalf of the 
Cherokees, in 1816. The first proposition was to establish, 
schools. Whereupon the chiefs in council replied : " We 
have listened to what you have said, and understand it. 
We are glad to see you. We wish to have the schools 
established, and hope they will be of great advantage to the 
nation." This offer of schools tamed their ferocity, subdued 
their opposition, and won them to listen to Christian teach- 
ing. Hence, the very next year, the station having been 
organized at Brainard, Mr. Kingsbury reports 26 boarding- 
pupils, and rejoices in the conversion of Catherine Brown, 
an interesting girl, and the first-fruit of the mission. 

In 1818 the missionaries say: " We feel ourselves under 
renewed and increasing obligations of gratitude to the Giver 
of all good, for hopeful appearances among our [school] 
children. Several of them appear seriously and solemnly 
impressed with divine truth, and we have hope that two or 
three of them have recently been born of the Spirit." 

This year the Choctaw mission was projected, and its site 
fixed at Elliot. 



368 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Conversion of John Arch. 

In 1819 the schools were enlarged, and their influence is 
happily illustrated by the case of John Arch, one of the 
converts. Having attended school a short time in his child- 
hood, he kept and studied his spelling-book till worn out. 
Hearing that a school had been established for his people 
at Brainard, he hastened thither, 150 miles, on foot, and 
sought admittance. His age (25) and wild and savage ap- 
pearance were much against him, but he sold his gun, his 
dearest treasure, to procure decent clothing, and was so im- 
portunate that it was difficult to refuse him. He was admit- 
ted, proved diligent and earnest in study, the truth reached 
his heart, and he became enlightened and anxious about his 
soul. He was baptized, and became a helper in the mission. 

The Choctaw mission school closed this year with 60 pu- 
pils, and its influence on the chiefs and people appeared in 
subscriptions and appropriations of $200, $600, $700, and 
$2000, for supporting it, and establishing other schools. 

In 1820 petitions came in from Creek Path, Fort Arm- 
strong, and other places among the Cherokees, for schools, 
and their establishment resulted in securing attention to 
Christian teaching, the conversion of precious souls, and " a 
great advance in civilization." 

The Choctaws, too, showed increasing " zeal for the edu- 
cation of their children," of whom 80 were in school, and 
many had been refused for want of means. So much had 
the schools won upon the favor of the Choctaws, that they 
devoted their annuity of $6000 a year for the support of the 
mission. 

Conversions in the Schools. 

In 1821 the mission reports a precious revival among the 
Cherokees. Where did it originate ? The journal of the 
mission says : " Early in August an uncommon degree of 
seriousness, commenced among the older boys in the school. 
They soon began to hold conferences and prayer- meetings 
by themselves." Conversions followed, and the fire kindled 
and spread. 



I 



CONVERSIONS IN THE SCHOOLS. 86fl 

The Choctaw school at Elliot was blessed. "A general 
seriousness commenced among the 80 pupils in March. It 
continued to increase, and in a few weeks several were 
anxiously inquiring what they must do to be saved." 
" Hopes were entertained of the conversion of two of the 
boys,' 1 " and the spirit of inquiry was spreading and deepen- 
ing in the school." 

In 1822 the work prospered at Brain ard, and missionary 
work was fairly commenced at Dwight, in Arkansas, with a 
school of 50 pupils. The Choctaw mission increased its 
schools, the chiefs and people making these the special object 
of their petitions. There were conversions at Elliot and 
Mahew, and a precious revival at Bethel. 

In 1823, " at the earnest request of the people, three new 
stations were formed, and schools opened at all of them." 
At Dwight the school had 60 pupils, and " sentiments favor- 
able to the mission, to education and good morals, were 
gradually gaining ground." Among the Choctaws, "the 
chiefs in council urged the establishment of a great number 
of small schools, in different parts of the nation." The Pru- 
dential Committee gladly approved this measure. 

In 1824 " the schools continued to gain confidence among 
the people, and several new schools were opened." More 
than 60 converts were gathered into the churches this year. 

In 1825 " the schools were improved, the Gospel was 
preached more extensively, and there were some instances 
of conversion." This year was signalized by " the transla- 
tion of the New Testament from the original Greek into the 
Cherokee language, by a Cherokee, in an alphabet invented 
by another Cherokee," by the name of Guess ; and also by 
the commencement of the first newspaper (the Pharnix) in 
their language. 

In 1826 we read : " From year to year, the schools were 
in better order, and the pupils made better progress." 
" There were a few instances of conversion, and a few addi- 
tions to the churches." 

In 1827 " the schools were generally successful. There 
was some special seriousness, and some were added to 
16* 



370 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

the churches." The people anxiously requested more 
schools. 

Of seven existing missions now taken under the care of 
the American Board, the one at Mackinaw had 112 board- 
ing-scholars, " and there had been several interesting cases 
of conversion." At Maumee were 32 pupils, of whom 
" six gave evidence of piety." 

We may not stop to trace the history of these missions 
through their subsequent years. Glancing on to 1843, we 
find such an advance in education, intelligence and good 
morals, that schools were highly appreciated, and the Choc- 
taws voted an annual appropriation of $26,300 to support 
them. From one school " 10 or 12 have been received to 
the Church of Christ." 

Revivals in the Schools. 

In 1816, reporting a blessed revival among the Choctaws, 
the mission says : " The revival appeared first in our school. 
Many of the scholars commenced prayer, and that without 
any particular suggestion from us." "At our communion 
season, 30 or more came forward bathed in tears, and asked 
what they must do to be saved. Some were pupils in our 
schools," and some were their fathers and mothers. At the 
next communion 21 were received, " 12 of them pupils in 
our school." 

At the close of this service, " the cloud of mercy seemed 
to break over us, and we all, parents and children, teachers 
and pupils, missionaries and people, wept over each other 
with joy." 

"One of the most interesting features of this revival, is 
the fact that so many youths of the schools have been 
brought in. In the "Wheelock school, 7 of the pupils have 
been admitted to the Church the past year. In the Good 
Water school, 24 of the pupils are church members, and six 
others candidates. Numbers have been received to the 
Church from the other schools." "At the Spencer Acad- 
emy the Spirit of the Lord has wrought powerfully on the 
minds of many of the pupils." 



REVIVALS IN THE SCHOOLS. 371 

In 1848 the report says : " The interest taken by the 
Choctaws, even from the commencement of the mission, in 
the intellectual advancement of the nation, has been highly 
praiseworthy." 

" Next to the churches, the boarding-schools claim our 
attention, as the most striking feature of the Choctaw mis- 
sion. 1 ' u Religious instruction holds a much more promi- 
nent place, [in the Choctaw schools than in our common 
schools ;] hence fhe comparatively large number of pupils 
who have professedly become new creatures in Christ 
Jesus." 

In 1849 we find that " these schools have prepared the 
way for the preaching of the Gospel in several places," and 
not only so, but "the pupils have attained to a saving 
knowledge of the plan of salvation." Of the school at 
Wheelock, the mission writes : " There is at the present 
time a most interesting state of religious feeling ; and sev- 
eral of the older girls express a hope of having passed from 
death unto life. We can not but feel that the Holy Spirit 
is evidently operating upon the minds of not a few of the 
children under our care." 

Two pupils had just been admitted to the Church at 
Wheelock, and six at Good Water, making in the latter 
school 26 church members. 

In 1851 the report says : " The condition of the boarding- 
schools continues to be gratifying in a high degree," and the 
mission again puts on record its "high estimate of the value 
to be attached to these institutions." "And the Committee 
would report with peculiar satisfaction, that a large propor- 
tion of the scholars are hopefully pious." The missionary 
at Good Water writes : " We think that God has peculiarly 
blessed this institution from its commencement, for we have 
had a revival every year. Last winter almost all were af- 
fected by divine truth, and 12 have since united with the 
Church." 

In 1852 the Committee say of the boarding-schools: 
" Hitherto their success has been all that the most sanguine 
could have anticipated. In fact, nothing is accomplishing 



372; mission schools, 

more for the elevation of the Choctaw nation than these 
institutions." Mr. Kingsbury writes : " All our larger 
scholars are members of the Church." The great desire of 
the chiefs and people was for more schools. Mr. Hotchkin 
writes : " This is the great subject among the people. 
'Schools,' 'Schools,' ' SCHOOLS,' sound in my ear, wher- 
ever I go. ' Is the Board acquainted with our wants?' they 
say ; ' will you not write to them to send us a teacher V " 

In 1854 a precious revival is reported *in these schools. 
Mr. Kingsbury writes : " The Holy Spirit seems to be 
moving the hearts of some of these children, in a very re- 
markable manner. It is now about five weeks since the 
work commenced. No special efforts were used. The 
Spirit seemed to make effectual the ordinary means of reli- 
gious instruction. We have never before seen, among Choc- 
taw children such a deep sense of sin, with such mourning 
and bitterness on account of it. There have been repeated 
instances where our pupils wished to be excused from going 
to their meals, saying that they wished to spend the time in 
prayer. The teachers have informed me that after the girls 
retired last night to their lodging-room, several continued in 
prayer until two o'clock." Mark the correspondence, in the 
results of these schools among the red children of our own 
Western forests, and the idolaters of India and Ceylon. 

In 1835 another revival is reported in the boarding 
schools. Reporting the admission of seven pupils to the 
Church, Mr. Kingsbury writes : " The influence of this re- 
freshing from the Lord seems to have been most happy on 
all the pupils. A quiet, subdued, teachable spirit has been 
generally manifested. Two have also joined the Church 
from the Stockbridge school." 

Such has been the experience of the Board, in its mission 
schools among our Western Indians. 



CHAPTER X. 



MISSIONS AMONG THE ARMENIANS OF TURKEY. 

1826. — Let us turn again to the East, and examine the 
history of our missionary efforts in Turkey, and especially 
among the Armenians. Explorations commenced in the 
Turkish empire as early as 1820, but no systematic and 
permanent labors appear till 1826. The principal scene of 
interest was at Beirut and vicinity, where some six free 
schools had been opened under hired teachers, with an av- 
erage attendance of 305 pupils. The interest in the truth 
awakened by these schools roused the anger and opposition 
of the corrupt priesthood, and anathemas were read against 
them in both the Latin and Greek churches. 

Teachers become the First Converts. 

Yet " the mission rejoiced over several converts who ap- 
peared to be truly pious. Among these were two Arme- 
nians, Jacob and Dionysius, whom they called Carabet, or 
the Forerunner; Gregory Wbtabet, an Armenian priest, 
engaged as a literary assistant to Mr. Goodeil; Gregory's 
wife ; her brother, Joseph Leflufy, a Greek Catholic, en- 
gaged in the autumn as an agent in establishing and super- 
intending schools ; Asaad Jacob, a Greek youth, who after- 
wards apostatized, [though his subsequent life was such as 
to furnish hope that he was a truly pious man ;] and espe- 
cially Asaad Shidiak," who was decoyed into the hands of 
the ecclesiastics, and after years of imprisonment and tor- 
ture in the Monastery of Kanobin, nobly suffered death as 
the first modern martyr to the faith of Jesus, in Turkey. 



374 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

This Asaad Shidiak was brought under Christian influence 
and teaching by "being employed as a teacher, first by Mr. 
King, and subsequently by Mr. Fisk, " to open a free 
school for teaching Arabic." 

It is worthy of being noted that all these first converts 
were brought under the teaching of the mission, by being 
employed in its service, either to teach school or the mis- 
sionaries, or in some employment which brought them un- 
der stated instruction. So of the next hopeful convert, 
Pharez, the youngest brother of Asaad, we read that he 
was •' for some time in the service of the mission." 

The Schools provoke Persecution. 

In 1827 the wives of two of these converts were admit- 
ted to the Church, and the influence of the schools and 
Christian teaching was such as to raise a violent storm of 
persecution. The patriarch complained that the mission- 
aries "have opened schools and supplied instructors at their 
own expense." He issued a threat of excommunication 
against all who should attend the schools, so that " parents 
dared not send their children ;" and "one teacher after an- 
other received positive orders to discontinue his school, and • 
was forced to comply, till, some time before the close of the 
year, not one was left." 

What clearer proof can we have of the value and efficacy 
of such schools, than this opposition from those who hate 
the truth? 

In 1823 we read: "The schools at Beirut were all broken 
up," and, as a consequent result, intercourse with the people 
was almost entirely cut off. Years of bitter opposition fol- 
lowed. 

In 1831 we find Mr. King at Athens, Greece, and the 
first hopeful item reported is, "he soon opened a school," 
which prospered, and others were soon established. At Con- 
stantinople, too, " Mr. Goodell had established four Lancas- 
terian schools for the Greeks." "Some enemy sought to 
crush these schools by exciting the Turkish government 
against them ;" but the attempt failed, and Mr. G. was per- 



THE SCHOOLS PROVOKE PERSECUTION. 375 

mittcd to " establish as many schools among the Christians 
as he pleased." What was the result? " Towards the close 
of the year Mr. G. had more intercourse with the Armeni- 
ans. Several young men appeared much interested in con- 
versing on the Scriptures and religious topics ; and some 
definite arrangements began to be made for establishing 
schools." 

In 1832 the chief and almost only item of interest at Ath- 
ens is the continuance and hopeful prospect of the schools. 

So, too, at Constantinople, Mr. Goodell waited on the 
Armenian Patriarch, and proposed to establish Lancaster - 
ian schools among his people. The Patriarch so far listened 
as to appoint Boghos Fisika, alias Paul the Philosopher, "to 
learn the sj^stem and commence a school by way of experi- 
ment." The mission established two schools for the Greeks, 
employing in one of them Mr. Paspati, a Greek who had 
been educated at Amherst, Mass., and " a little encourage- 
ment, assistance^ and advice, induced the Greeks to establish 
nearly thirty more, at their own expense." These schools 
gave the mission favor and influence of immense importance 
at that stage of its history. 

1833. — In Greece the High -school, or Gymnasium, re- 
ports 66 scholars, and the elementary school 76. At Con- 
stantinople "the Greek schools remained as last year, and 
a new school was opened at Pera. The schools established 
last year in the Turkish barracks won favor, led the way to 
the establishment of others under the advice and direction 
of the mission, and introducing and sanctioning the books 
of the mission, helped to diffuse Christian truth widely 
among the people. 

In 1834 these schools had 2000 scholars, and though 
supported by the people, yet, having been established by 
the advice and assistance of the mission, their influence was 
great in its favor, till the monks and priests began to preach 
violently against the mission and schools, "and even against 
the Patriarch for favoring them." But it was too late to 
destroy their influence. The Armenians had become roused 
by the spreading light. Its reflection made them conscious 



876 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

of their grosser ignorance and superstitions, and led to the 
establishment of the academy of the famous Peshtemaljan, 
in 1829. Hohannes, one of his pupils, and Senekerim, 
teacher of a school in the Patriarch's palace, became promi- 
nent actors in the movement which followed. " Hohannes 
began to study the English language under Mr. Dwight, 
and was employed to translate the Psalms," while " Sene- 
kerim was employed to open an Armenian school at Pera." 

Thus it was that these youth came under Christian teach- 
ing, were hopefully converted, and prepared for the important 
part they subsequently acted. 

This year, also, " a high-school for Armenians was open- 
ed under the instruction of Mr. Paspati, in Mr. Goodell's 
house." So in Syria, at Beirut, we find the progress of the 
mission noted by the existence of five schools ; and at Broo- 
sa, a new station, Mr. Schneider had " left Hohannes to 
make arrangements for a school," and " notwithstanding 
the opposition which some of the clergy bad excited, the 
school was commenced with 70 pupils ; and in December 
another was opened." 

In 1S35 " the revival of learning and piety among the 
Armenians continued to advance " hand in hand. " The 
high-school at Pera had received its full number of scholars, 
(30,) and many others desired admission." " Among the 
Greeks better views of education were making progress, 
notwithstanding some opposition among the clergy. Sev- 
eral new schools for Greek boys were opened." At Broosa 
" the opposition of the clergy broke up the Armenian 
school," but the Greek school "continued to flourish, and 
another was established." "Mr. Schneider taught a few 
Greek boys, and his wife opened a school for girls." 

At Scio Mr. Houston " established three Lancastrian 
schools," as his best means of winning favor with the peo- 
ple and disseminating Christian truth ; while at Beirut it 
is joyfully reported that " the mission had 10 schools, con- 
taining 311 pupils," and an additional boarding-school for 
boys, intended to grow into a high-school, was commenced 
with six pupils. 



I 1 1 



THE SCHOOLS PROVOKE PERSECUTION. £7 7 

At Jerusalem, Mr. Whiting " opened a school under a 
hired teacher, in August ; but the Latin convent had influ- 
ence enough to break it up." The monks endeavored to 
break up Mrs. Whiting's school of Mohammedan girls, but 
did not succeed. At Cyprus nothing so marked progress 
as the school with its 78 pupils. 

Thus alternate success and defeat in all these missions is 
easily traced in the history of these schools. When oppo- 
sition breaks out afresh in Greece, we at once read " the 
schools at Syra were broken up." 

In 1836 " civilization was advancing rapidly among the 
Turks. The Lancasterian schools were 'carried on in splen- 
did style, and with remarkable success." Though these 
schools were now supported by the Turks themselves, yet 
the missionaries had originated them, and hence their influ- 
ence and success enured greatly in favor of the mission. 
This fact is clearly brought to view. The missionaries were 
invited to the public examination, " and Azim Bey publicly 
declared that the Turks were indebted to them for every 
thing of the kind. Some of the Turks hoped that such 
schools would soon become common throughout the em- 
pire." Those who would disparage this influence in favor 
of the mission, ought, in consistency, to disallow all human 
instrumentalities. But while the Turks were conciliated, 
" the Greek Patriarch at Constantinople denounced the 
schools in his encyclical letter." The influence of this letter 
extended widely. At Smyrna, Scio, Broosa, and Trebi- 
zond it broke up the mission schools and cut off almost all 
intercourse with the people. At Smyrna " 8 schools," with 
600 or 800 children, were broken up, but the cause of edu- 
cation had received such an impulse, that the ecclesiastical 
committee were obliged to carry it on themselves, compell- 
ing some of the teachers and pupils of the mission to enter 
their service. At Beirut " the mission schools were nearty 
all broken up for a time; but before the end of the year 
they began to revive." 

At Jerusalem " the school for Mohammedan girls contin- 



37$ MISSION SCHOOLS. 

tied," but " encouraging attempts to establish, schools in the 
vicinity were defeated by ecclesiastical opposition." 

In 1837 "the secretary of the Patriarch resolved to break 
up the high-school for Armenians," and effected it princi- 
pally "by compelling parents to take away their sons." 
This roused the Armenians so much, that another school 
was soon opened at Hass Koy, so enlarged as to receive 
600 scholars. This was under the direction of a wealthy 
banker, "who in a short time expended $5000 on tee 
school," though he kept Hohannes in it as president, and 
made it as evangelical as before. At Broosa opposition 
slackened so much that the " Greek school was again in 
operation," and two hopeful converts are mentioned. Who 
were they ? Two pupils of Mr. Powers. 

At Trebizond " the missionaries were unable, on account 
of opposition, to collect a school." 

At Beirut " the mission seminary was doing well, with a 
few scholars, but was obliged to reject several applications 
for admission, for want of funds." 

At Jerusalem "the girls' school prospered under the care 
of Miss Tilden." "A school for boys was opened in August, 
under a Greek teacher, which soon had its full number of 
scholars, (24,) and many applicants were refused." 

In Cyprus " the high-school had seventeen, and the two 
Lancasterian schools had two hundred scholars ;" but the 
threats of the patriarch availed, and all three schools were 
closed. 

In 1838 light was evidently spreading, and a work of 
grace in progress among the Armenians, but as the converts 
were not encouraged to come out and formally join a Pro- 
testant church, its extent and results can not be distinctly 
traced. " The high-school at Hass Koy prospered the for- 
mer part of the year," but the wealthy banker, fearing it 
"might attract the unfavorable notice of the Turkish gov- 
ernment, and involve him in difficulty, withdrew his sup- 
port," and the school went down. 

" Several Lancasterian schools were established by the 
Armenians during the year, with prospects of usefulness." 



THE SCHOOLS PROVOKE PERSECUTION. 379 

At Broosa the three schools contained 220 scholars, and 
progress was manifest "towards truth and piety." 

At Beirut the most interesting movement was among the 
Druzes. " They invited Mr. Thompson to visit their vil- 
lages, and to open schools and places of worship among 
them. They applied for the admission of their sons into the 
seminary." 

In 1839 a vigorous persecution was waged against the 
" Evangelicals." The two first victims seized and banished, 
without form of trial, were Hohannes and Boghos, who had 
long been teachers in the service of the mission. The Ar- 
menian patriarch was deposed, and superseded by one who 
would show more energy in putting down the "Evangeli- 
cals." Der Kivork, two priests, a teacher, and several oth- 
ers, were imprisoned, and subsequently banished." 

At Broosa, too, "a vigorous attack was made on the mis- 
sion. Both the Armenian and Greek bishops preached vio- 
lently against schools," and pronounced anathemas on all 
who should favor the mission. The books r«nd cards used 
in the schools were ordered to be given up, and in some 
cases violently seized. Teachers and assistants were com- 
pelled to leave the service of the mission. 

At Erzroom the people were prohibited from patronizing 
the mission schools. Beirut was less affected by the threats 
of the ecclesiastics, and " the seminary and other schools 
went on as usual." 

In 1840 the former patriarch, Stephen, was recalled, and 
some other circumstances revived the courage of the " Evan- 
gelicals," and their intercourse with the mission. "Some 
of them wished to place their sons in one of the mission 
families for education," and this led to the mission seminary 
at Bebek, which commenced with only three scholars. In 
December, however, fifteen applications for admission had 
been received, but the funds were sufficient for only twelve. 
Mr. Van Lennep commenced a boarding-seminary near Smyr- 
na, with encouraging prospects, but the death of Mrs. Van 
Lennep led to its abandonment. 
. In 1841 the students in the seminary at Bebek had in- 



880 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

creased to twenty -four, and many were refused for want of 
funds. " The patriarch ordered parents to take their sons 
from the seminar}^. They obeyed, and sent them back in a 
few days." 

The Druzes were in earnest for schools, and " Mr. "VVol- 
cott and Dr. Yan Dyck removed to Deir el Kamer, and 
opened a school for the sons of the sheikhs." " Mr. Thomp- 
son removed to 'Ain 'Anub, to superintend the schools for 
the common people, of which three were soon opened in the 
vicinity." 

The patriarch now put forth his energies anew. He 
" even ordered the people to rise against the missionaries, 
and stone them out of their villages." " The Druze sheikhs 
were ordered to stop the schools, and parents to remove 
their children. The French consul wrote to the Emir 
Beshir, urging him to stop these schools." 

A conflict ensued between the Maronites and Druzes, in 
which the latter triumphed, and though the schools had 
been broken up, all four were soon reopened, and petitions 
were sent in to the mission for four or five others. Even 
the Maronites sought intercourse with the mission, declaring 
" they wanted schools, and were determined to have them." 

The Schools an Entering-Wedge. 

In 1842 we find the seminary at Bebek "prospering ad- 
mirably, with nineteen boarding scholars, under a constant 
and strong religious influence." " The Committee received 
so forcible an appeal in behalf of this institution that they 
felt constrained to make a special grant to enable the mis 
sion to place it on a broader and firmer basis." A- blessed 
change was becoming manifest among the people, and in 
contrasting it with the state of things six years before, Mr. 
D wight writes : " By far the greater part who [then] came 
to us came for the purpose of general inquiry, or to see our 
philosophical apparatus, or to listen to a lecture on the 
sciences, or on chemistry. We felt happy if by such means 
we could draw them to us, and make mere human know- 



THE SCHOOLS AX ENTEHING-WEDGE. 3§1 

ledge the enteririg-weilge, by which to open a passage to 
their minds for that knowledge which is divine. But now 
how marked and how delightful the change !" Minds thus 
opened by the truths of science were at the same time 
opened to divine truth, the same result in Turkey as in 
India and other parts of the unevangelized world. In view 
of this result at Constantinople, we do not wonder that the 
missionaries at Trebizond write : "A good influence is ex- 
erted through some of the school-masters, and there is great 
need of schools." The Turkish mission, this year, reports 
" six free schools, with 125 pupils." 

At Beirut were nine free schools, and one at Jerusalem, the 
ten having 287 pupils. The seminary had 44 pupils, 22 of 
them boarding scholars, and there were 11 boarding girls. 

In 1843 the Bebek seminary had 20 students, and five 
free schools had 180 pupils. There were boarding scholars 
at Smyrna and Broosa, and an urgent appeal is made for 
several other schools, one argument being, that a thirst for 
education had become so excited that if we failed of meeting 
the exigency, the youth would go to the Jesuit schools, as 
some were actually doing. 

In Syria the seminary at Beirut had 24 pupils, but for 
some reason was discontinued. There were 12 female 
boarding scholars, and twelve free schools had 279 pupils. 
Of the Druzes it is said : " They are as friendly as ever, 
and as desirous of schools." " A seminary for them is of 
the first importance." 

In 1844 the seminary at Bebek had 26 students. Of this 
seminary Mr. Hamlin wrote: "Its collateral influences are 
becoming more obvious and important. It brings into per- 
sonal intercourse with us individuals of all classes, who 
would otherwise have no acquaintance with us or our ob- 
jects. The week- day visitors for the past month have 
averaged about six each day, and the Sabbath visitors, 
twice that number. Within a few weeks we have had calls 
from Nicomedia, Ada Bazer, Syria, Alexandria, Varna, 
Odessa, St. Petersburgh, Marsovan, Bgin on the Euphrates, 
and Moosh. The philosophical experiments they have 



882 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

seen, the books they have received, and the truths they 
have heard, will all be topics of conversation at their re- 
spective homes, and will doubtless contribute to that general 
awakening of the Armenian mind which has already mani- 
fested itself at so many points. The seminary, therefore, 
should be considered, not simply as educating so many 
young men, but as a centre of influences, which are sent 
abroad, far and wide, into the Armenian community." 

A female seminary was also resolved upon, as soon as a 
suitable teacher could be sent. Three common schools at 
Constantinople contained 100 girls, and there was a day- 
school at Galata, and several more at Trebizond and its 
vicinity. In mentioning Mr. Schaufler's school for Jewish 
children, the report of the Board naively says, "Experi- 
ence shows that the effect of a school for children and youth 
among the Jews is, to bring adults within the reach of in- 
struction ;" quite like the experience of missionaries through- 
out the heathen and unevangelized world. 

In Syria thirteen schools report nearly 500 pupils, and 
there were 11 boarding girls. "The school-houses are 
places for preaching, and the schools form nuclei for congre- 
gations, to which the G-ospel may be clearly and pointedly 
preached." 

Revivals in the Schools. 

Passing to 1847 we find Bebek Seminary with 35 stu- 
dents, one of its graduates being ordained as a native pastor, 
and "several pupils hopefully converted during the year." 
The female seminary, with 15 pupils, was " blest with a gra- 
cious visitation from on high." " Out of 18 pupils only two 
remained without hope, and these two were not indifferent." 
The influence of this seminary is represented as " extensive 
and salutary on the female community." In dwelling upon 
its importance at some length, Mr. Groodell mentions a little 
girl of only four years, from one of the day-schools, and his 
surprise at finding she could read fluently, when he found 
to his greater astonishment, that the child had been the 
teacher of her mother, who had thus come to the knowledge of 



REVIVALS IN THE SCHOOLS. 383 

the truth, and was soon received to the Church. " The fe- 
male seminary has much to do in keeping alive and increas- 
ing this desire for improvement." 

In Syria the seminary had opened at Abeih with eight 
boarding pupils. Several of them were regarded as pious. 
The eighteen free schools of the mission report 528 pupils, 
and Mrs. Whiting had some boarding girls. 

In 1849 we find the seminary at Bebek reduced from 47 
to 28 pupils, but its "relation to the churches and the work 
in general is becoming more and more important." The 
female seminary in Pera reports 23 pupils, and a precious 
revival resulted in the conversion of all the nncon verted 
pupils except five small ones. The influence of this re- 
vival extended to the other seminary, and through the 
Protestant community. The progress of the reformation 
was visible in different and distant places, but it is worthy 
of record, that when the conversion of a young man at Tre- 
bizond is stated, it is also mentioned that he " was for a 
while a member of the seminary at Bebek." 

In Syria the seminary pnpils increased to 16, "among 
whom there was at times more than ordinary attention to 
religion." Some twelve free schools contained 370 pupils, 
and a student of the seminary and a school-master were ad- 
mitted" to the Church. The conversion of a Greek priest 
is mentioned in the report, in connection with the schools, 
" because it seems so plainly to have resulted from the es- 
tablishment of the school in his village." 

In 1850 we find 24 students in the Bebek Seminary, and 
23 in the Pera Seminary. Seven free schools report 112 
pupils. In Syria the seminary seems to have had 20 pu- 
pils. Ten free schools report 271 scholars, and there were 
20 boarding girls. 

In 1851 the Bebek Seminary reports 25 pupils, and the 
female seminary 22, and five free schools 179. Three gra- 
duates of the seminary entered mission service. Of all the 
graduates 17 were in missionary work, " eleven of whom, 
received their religious impressions in the institution. Two 
vvere pastors at Constantinople ; one a pastor at Trebizond ; 



S34 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

two licensed preachers ; one a teacher in the seminary ; 
others teachers, translators, etc. The other graduates are 
reported as in places of influence ; four in custom-houses, 
two in Paris, one publishing a work on chemistry, one f j .n 
interpreter of Amin Bey, one professor of the Armenian 
College at Paris, another of the college at Scutari, etc., fill- 
ing posts of usef nlness, and where their influence would he 
valuable to the mission. 

In 1852 the report says : "It has been found impossible 
to restrain the number of pupils in the male seminary." Is 
it not a pity that the attempt was so long persevered in ? 
The report says : " The graduates of this institution are 
doing much for their people." " The seminary was in a 
most promising state of seriousness." The female seminary 
reports twenty -four of whom " two or three had professedly 
passed from death unto life." " The influence of this insti- 
tution upon the Armenian community is increasing, and 
there is a loud call for its enlargement. Twenty-seven 
have already left it with the hope that they had been born 
again," sixteen of whom are the wives of pious pastors and 
teachers. 

In 1853 we are glad to find the Bebek Seminary report- 
ing fifty students. "Its former pupils are employed as 
preachers, teachers, translators, and helpers in many places." 
Many of the students listen to the truth with interest, and 
"are not far from the kingdom of heaven." " Several, it is 
thought, have recently received the truth in love, and will 
carry its light to the dark places of Armenia." "A good 
missionary spirit prevails among the pious students." 
"Four spent their last vacation as colporteurs in the vil- 
lages," spending days and nights in discussion and instruc- 
tion. " The labors of one of them have been remarkably 
blessed to the conversion of a man and his wife in a remote 
quarter of the city." 

Who would limit the numbers and usefulness of such an 
institution ? 

The female seminary reports 27 pupils. " Truth has 
been brought home to the hearts and consciences of the 



EFFECTIVE INFLUENCE OF THE SCHOOLS. 385 

pupils," and "three or four have come to a saving know- 
ledge of the truth as it is in Jesus." " Tke influence of the 
school on the Armenian community throughout Turkey is 
becoming more and more important. Its former pupils are 
widely scattered, and the reports of their usefulness are 
highly pleasing. It needs to be enlarged." 19 free schools 
report 451 scholars, a most desirable increase in these agen- 
cies, and to these must be added 60 children and 150 adult 
scholars at Aintab. 

Effective Influence of the Schools. 

In Syria, the female boarding-school reports 17 pupils, 
and its value and influence are emphatically attested by the 
missionaries. They say : "Our mission can present some 
most interesting examples of the potent influence of edu- ' 
cation and religion on the female character in Syria. The 
seminary for boys reports 25 students, and 20 free schools, 
554 pupils. Nine teachers were members of the church, 
the larger portion of the teachers still being unevangelized. 

In 1854 we find the Bebek Seminary " every way en- 
couraging and progressive. Its number of pupils 50." 
" Seven of them are candidates for the ministry." The 
female boarding-school reports 85 boarding, and 12 day 
scholars. In alluding to a new class of ten, an incidental 
remark of the report discloses one blessed fact showing the 
great value of such schools. It is this : " When a child is 
thus given, [as a pupil,] the whole family is usually gained." 
Here is the secret of the very large blessing which God has 
bestowed on our mission schools. 

At Aintab, the seminary reports 37 pupils ; the boys' 
elementary school 100, and the girls' school 80 scholars. 
These and a private school of 60 girls, the missionaries say, 
" are doing much for Protestantism." " 50 adult females 
have begun to learn to read during the year ; more than 50 
have already learned to read well, and many others are in 
process of learning." 

This lively interest in education at Aintab prepares us for 

17 



386 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

the fact that a special blessing lias rested upon that station. 
The whole number of free schools in the mission rose this 
year to 25, with 788 pupils. 

In Syria, 21 free schools report 568 pupils, about half of 
the teachers being members of the Church. The female 
seminary, with twenty pupils, is more than ever appreciated, 
and some, when refused, besought the mission to receive 
their children into their families. " They blame the mission- 
aries for not making sufficient provision for meeting the de- 
mand which they have labored to create." The seminary at 
Abeih reports only 18 pupils ; " Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Bird 
call attention to the usefulness of the schools under their 
care, and the importance of adding to their number." " Had 
we the requisite funds," they say, "we could at once open 
several new schools, with encouraging prospects of success." 

In 1855 we find the female boarding-school at Constan- 
tinople again restricted to 25, although its value is attested 
in the admission of six of its pupils to the Church, and in- 
creasing interest led several others to personal consecration 
to Christ. 

In the Bebek Seminary we regret to find the Grreek de- 
partment suspended, and only 40 Armenian students. The 
prudent management of Mr. Hamlin made the institution, 
for a time, self-supporting. Five of the students were 
licensed to preach the Gospel, and went out to different 
posts, and others were preparing for the same service, and 
in the mean time doing much good as colporteurs and in 
other ways. " Six of the students during the year have 
publicly professed their faith in Christ, all of whom give 
promise of usefulness." 

It was found impossible to supply the increasing demand 
for teachers and preachers from this seminary ; hence the 
missionaries were importunate for others, and commenced 
one at Tokat with 12, and another at Aintab with 9 stu- 
dents, looking to the lower schools for future classes. The 
free schools increased this year to 38, and the whole num- 
ber of pupils to 960. 

In Syria, the mission reports 19 pupils in the seminary at 



EFFECTIVE INFLUENCE OF THE SCHOOLS. 387 

Abeib, and adds : " The fierce opposition of the Maronite 
hierarchy keeps many of their communion from entering 
the seminary who desire to do so." 

" The character of the free schools is decidedly improv- 
ing." These schools were found so effective in promoting 
the objects of the mission, that the Maronites were con- 
strained to open schools, " to prevent all B'hamdun from 
becoming Protestant." "At Aleppo," too, "the Eoman- 
ists were obliged to establish a school, to counteract the in- 
fluence of our girls' school." Can any one desire better 
facts than these, to show the value of mission schools ? 
" Urgent appeals are made," says the report, " for the 
multiplication of schools, but the necessary funds are 
wanting. The number now supported is 26, with 772 
pupils, showing an advance on last year of five schools 
and 204 pupils." 

In 1856, the Bebek Seminary reports 40 pupils, and 21 
theological students were studying in other places. The 
female seminary had 25 pupils. A blessed revival was 
enjoyed in this institution, and " not one was left uncon- 
cerned." "Of a goodly number of the pupils hope is 
entertained that they have passed from death unto life. 
Six have been received to the Church within the year." 
The free schools were increased this year to 44, and their 
pupils to 1151. 

In Syria, too, the seminary reports 24 pupils of much 
promise, and 24 free schools contain 816 pupils, showing a 
continued and increasing appreciation by the missionaries, 
of these effective agencies in making known the Gospel of 
Christ. 

We will not pursue the history of these missions, but the 
following items of more recent intelligence, show the con- 
tinued character and influence of the schools, and deserve a 
place in this connection. 



388 MISSION SCHOOLS. 



Revival in Turkey. 



Mr. Clark, Principal of the Bebek Seminary, writes, Dec. 
24, 1858 : 

" We have richly enjoyed a season of refreshing from the 
presence of the Lord. He has indeed visited us by the 
wonderful power of His divine Spirit. An eminently spirit- 
ual work has been witnessed by us, such as I have not be- 
fore known in this land ; a work presenting precisely the 
same characteristics which belong to the great revival which 
God has been carrying forward during the past year in 
America. 

" From the opening of the term, (the first of October,) an 
increasing spirit of prayer has been manifest. Our pious 
young men have been fervently praying, and meetings for 
prayer became more and more frequent. A deep serious- 
ness pervaded the entire school, and we felt that the Lord 
was drawing nigh to bless us. This religious interest, 
though intense, was not attended by any marked outward 
manifestations, till about the middle of November. At 
that time, after an exhortation made to the students to pray 
especially for the descent of the Holy Spirit, four of the 
smallest pupils in the seminary commenced a daily prayer- 
meeting for this purpose. Not one of these four was then 
hopefully pious ; but notwithstanding this, the Lord mani- 
fested himself immediately among them. They were at 
once overwhelmed with a sense of their guilt and their 
need of a Saviour. This little meeting rapidly increased in 
numbers, and within a week the place became too strait for 
them, and they were obliged to seek a larger room. 

" It was only the fourth evening after this little meeting 
was established, when a student who had openly ridiculed it 
at its commencement, was constrained to go in for once, and 
see for himself. He had scarcely entered when he felt the 
power of the Spirit upon him. He attempted to speak, but 
was so deeply affected that he was unable. His distress 
continued for two days, and during this time, his anguish 
was so great that even while in his class, at recitation, with 



REVIVAL IN TURKEY. 389 

tears rolling down his cheeks, he would frequently speak to 
a fellow-student who sat by his side, and say : ' Oh ! my 
sins, my sins. How can I be saved ?' But Christ appear- 
ed, and his soul was filled with peace and joy. Other cases 
similar to this, and of an equally striking character, might 
be mentioned. Some were suddenly struck, as with the 
lightning of God's Spirit, and wept and prayed till the}' 
found peace in believing. Others could get no rest at 
night, but frequently rose and prayed for the pardon of 
their many sins. Deep conviction for sin was the striking 
characteristic of the work in every case. 

" The effect upon the pious students has also been truly 
wonderful. This visitation of the Spirit has been like a 
fresh baptism upon them from on high. It has changed 
them into young converts, with all their ardor of love, 
their zeal and enthusiasm. They are now scattered abroad 
in the city and surrounding region, laboring for Christ dur- 
ing the vacation." 

Dr. D wight, in January adds: " The pious students, full of 
love and zeal, went forth among the neighboring churches, 
to labor chiefly among church members. One of them went 
to Broosa, and we learn from Mr. Barnum, who is there 
studying the Turkish language, that a revival has actually 
commenced, the church members being greatly stirred up 
to confess their sins and pray, and some among the impeni- 
tent being awakened. A few already, it is hoped, have 
given their hearts to the Saviour." 

A few days later he states : "There is a wonderful revi- 
val going on here among the girls in a Jewish school, un- 
der the teaching of the Free Scotch Church missionaries. 
Twelve or more Jewesses have been hopefully converted, 
and in a most remarkable manner. . . . We have com- 
menced a daily prayer-meeting, held at noon, in a room in 
Yezir Khan, not far from the bazaars. We hope that many 
of our brethren, who are in business, will be induced to 
attend." 



890 MISSION SCHOOLS. 



Still Later from Constantinople. 

" Shortly before the close of last year, very suddenly 
the Spirit of God came down upon the theological semi- 
nary of the American mission in Bebek, beginning his 
work of conversion with the very youngest boys, until the 
whole school, consisting of forty students, was turned to the 
Lord.- Immediately after this we held our New- Year's pray- 
er-meeting, and two da}'S subsequently the annual prayer- 
meeting of all the missionaries, ministers, and Christians of 
different denominations in this town, at which the chief sub- 
ject of comment and prayer was the outpouring of the 
Spirit upon this land. Then came a season of God's 
power in one of the American missionary families, where 
all the household is now safely sheltered in the fold of 
Christ. On the day after these last news reached us, one 
of the teachers in our Italian female school made cursory 
reference to it, to a number of girls gathered round her, 
before the school had commenced, and the subject of the 
opening prayer was a recognition of the hand of God in 
these recent wonderful dealings, and inquiring of the Lord 
whether there were no such blessings in store for us. The 
lesson for the day had but begun, when one of the older 
girls (who has been recently received by us as a boarder) 
came up to her teacher's side, pale and trembling, request- 
ing permission to retire to her room to pray. Immediately 
after I heard the voice of one wrestling with God below my 
study, without knowing whose voice it was. The arrows 
of the Almighty had struck this soul, and her distress was 
intense. She passed all day in this state, praying, confess- 
ing her sins, crying for mercy, pleading the promises, and 
receiving direction from her teachers. Towards evening, 
just as the convincing power of the Lord had seized her, 
was she brought into the light and liberty of the children 
of God. She came to us, her face beaming with joy, and 
declared that now she had found Christ, that ' dear Jesus,' 
who died for her, and that now she was forever saved. 
Truly she now rejoiced with joy unspeakable, and was 



REVIVAL IN TURKEY. 391 

filled with peace in believing ; to use her own words, she 
was ' full of the Spirit, quite full.' In this lively frame of 
spiritual joy she continues up to the present day." 

" In the evening, whilst we rejoiced over her who was 
lost but now found, the simple question was put to our 
boarder, a Spanish Jewish girl of nine years, whether she 
did not think of seeking Christ also, or if she would be con- 
tented to remain behind, and the same moment she ran 
down-stairs into her room, as if struck with lightning ; and 
the agony in which this dear child then cried to the Lord I 
shall not soon forget. The whole evening was spent by 
these two girls in prayer for one another. We likewise 
had a meeting for prayer among ourselves, and before the 
night closed upon them, the younger of the two expressed 
a hope that she also had been brought nigh by the blood 
of sprinkling, and praise and prayer were heard from their 
room until midnight. The elder of these, a girl of fourteen 
years, has since been made a great means of carrying on 
this work of grace in the school. She is naturally dull, and 
being very irregular in school, she had received little in- 
struction, and her knowledge was very circumscribed. The 
change in her is therefore all the more striking, the expe- 
rience and the new views of Scripture, which she pours 
forth like a stream, are not the teaching of man ; and full of 
joy she went among the girls next morning, telling them 
that she had found the pearl of great price, beseeching them 
and praying with them to seek that dear Saviour also. On 
that day there was another case of a soul seeking Christ, 
which terminated in what we consider a decided conversion. 
This girl was formerly one of the worst and most trouble- 
some of the pupils, and perhaps the last thought of in con- 
nection with the work of grace ; she continued all day in 
prayer, and next day she received a sense of pardon ; her 
feeling was, that ' Christ now appeared to her more beauti- 
ful than all the world beside.' 

- On that same morning, after the opening prayer, six girls 
came up to their teachers, all equally concerned, and asking 
permission to retire for praver. Different rooms were given 



302 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

them, and nearly the whole clay we heard nothing from one 
end of our house to the other, but the voices of these child- 
ren crying to the Lord for salvation and pardon. Next day 
another girl was in like manner wounded by the Spirit, and 
so the week passed over, the most remarkable week I have 
been privileged to witness during the many years I have 
labored in this place. We have had individual conversions 
at different periods ; we have also had times of refreshing 
from the Lord in our church ; but on this occasion we feel 
as if the clouds of mercy were resting over us, promising 
greater blessings, and we feel stirred up to prayer that the 
windows of heaven might be opened, and a blessing poured 
out that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Sev- 
eral members of the mission have been refreshed and reviv- 
ed in such a manner that they feel as if they never before 
had known the Lord, nor enjoyed his presence and the as- 
surance of salvation as at the present. So far as man can 
judge, ten girls have been accepted of the Lord ; among 
these are a Eoman Catholic and a Greek, who have shared 
in the blessing; seven are still anxiously seeking, while 
deep solemnity and a feeling of concern pervades the whole 
school. This week the girls have two prayer-meetings at 
mid-day, the elder and the younger pupils apart ; we hear 
them singing and praying during the time of recess, and we 
watch these tokens with increasing interest. With startling 
rapidity the news reached the Jewish houses, some of the 
newly converted girls w T ere so full of what they had expe- 
rienced, that they openly declared to their parents that they 
had now looked to Christ as the Lamb of God, and were 
no longer Jews, but Christians. We were therefore pre- 
pared for nothing short of a complete empt}dng of the 
school, but wonderful to relate, the Lord has been greater 
than our fears. Nine have indeed been removed; this 
number includes several Spanish, and but one of the re- 
cent converts. 

" It is cause of special thanksgiving, that all the other 
young disciples are still among us ; and a most remarkable 
fact it is, that even Jewish enmity has been restrained from 



REVIVAL IN TURKEY. 39o 

hindering tbis glorious work. This is the doing of the Lord. 
Is there any thing too hard for him? The one I have just 
mentioned, whose conversion was very marked, is in most 
painful circumstances. Her Bible and all her books were 
burnt ; and she was sent to Jewish relatives in Hasskeuy. 
There are many other cheering circumstances which have 
come to our ears from the homes of these dear children. 
One of the converted girls gathers her younger sisters to- 
gether for prayer every evening; her parents, though aware 
of this, do not interfere. The Greek girl mentioned before 
now reads and prays with her mother, and told her teachers 
only yesterday, that her mother has begun to search the 
Scriptures for herself, and to feel anxious for her soul. 

"In conclusion, I can only add that there is none, either 
among our own number or our Christian friends, who does 
not. deeply feel that the Lord himself is manifesting his 
power in the midst of us in a manner whicb we have never 
experienced before, and we all expect still fuller and richer 
blessings. Let the Church at home rejoice." 

Who can peruse such accounts, without a deep and irre- 
pressible conviction that these schools are God's chosen 
instrumentalities for disseminating the word of life, and sav- 
ing precious souls ? 

17* 



CHAP TEE XI. 

MISSION TO THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 

Let us turn now to the islands of the ocean, and trace the 
agencies which have been most successful in bringing the 
Gospel to bear on their inhabitants. 

Origin of the Mission. 

The first band of missionaries sent by the ship Thaddeus 
to the Sandwich Islands, came in sight of them March 30, 
1820. The party consisted of seventeen persons, of whom 
two, Messrs. Bingham and Thurston, were ordained mission- 
aries, one a farmer, one a physician, and three were school- 
masters, thus indicating a wise forethought for schools and 
education. Of the rest, seven were wives of those just men- 
tioned, and three were natives of the islands, who had been 
educated at the mission school at Cornwall, Connecticut. 
While this missionary band were on the way to the 
islands, a remarkable providence led the king and people to 
renounce idolatry and destroy their idols. They were thus 
found a people wonderfully prepared of the Lord for the 
blessed tidings of the Gospel. The missionaries found a 
ready welcome, but they had to deal with an ignorant peo- 
ple, who had no written language even, and whose hearts 
and lives were wholly perverted with the vices and abomi- 
nations connected with their former idolatry and immo- 
ralities. 



KINGS, CHIEFS, AND PEOPLE LEARN TO READ. 395 
Kings, Chiefs, and People learn to read. 

How did they go about their work ? A brief but signifi- 
cant record informs us. As soon as they found lodgings, 
and the very day their baggage was landed, "late in the 
evening the king was found busy at his book, having been en- 
gaged for two or three days in learning to ready Here was 
something which arrested and fixed his attention. The 
foreigners had brought a new and wonderful art, and im- 
pressed with its value, and their superior knowledge, he is 
ready to listen to their instruction. So jealous was the king 
of the advantage to be derived from this source, that he 
" was unwilling the common people should be taught till he 
had learned." " In July the king could read the New Tes- 
tament intelligibly." He was willing the chiefs should be 
taught, and "in November the mission had four schools," 
and 92 scholars. This was the commencement of its labors, 
and wisely planned for the happiest results. The wonderful 
fact that thought could be expressed and communicated on 
paper, excited intense and wide- spread interest, and won im- 
mense favor and attention to the mission. 

In 1821 George Sandwich, another native educated at 
Cornwall, was sent out to join the mission. The work of 
teaching went on successfully. 

In 1822, the art of printing being introduced, a still 
greater impulse was given to the schools ; the king and 
chiefs undertook in earnest to learn to read and write, and 
in September the mission had 500 pupils. "Delia," the 
first convert mentioned, " had been instructed in one of the 
mission families." 

This special attention to education prepares us for the 
statement that " the strictly spiritual labors of the mission 
were now prosecuted to much better advantage than for- 
merly." The spelling-book became an effective text-book 
for teaching Christianity. 

In 1823 " Christian instruction seemed to be taking deep 
root." "The king, his brother, 12 chiefs, and as many dis- 
tinguished women, were learning to read and write;" and 
200 pupils are reported in one school. 



396 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

In 1824 "the schools flourished." The regents and chiefs 
convened the people to declare to them their own purpose 
'• concerning learning and the law of Jehovah." " The peo- 
ple in various parts of the islands were ordered to build 
school-houses and receive instruction. Before the end of 
the year, 50 natives were employed as teachers, and at least 
2000 had learned to read." Nearly all these teachers were 
still heathen. What a terrible hindrance to this mission, 
had our modern theory then been enforced, that none but 
Christian teachers should be employed ! 

With this advance of education, " the cause of religion 
advanced," and some were found to be " jDraying men." 

The Rev. Mr. Ellis, of the London Missionary Society, 
spent some two years in joint labor with our missionaries on 
the islands, up to this date, and doubtless his former experi- 
ence on the Society Islands proved of valuable service to 
our mission in its early history. 

In 1825 "the schools prospered." "Every where the 
chiefs selected the most forward scholars, and sent them out 
to teach others." " 40 schools were known to be in opera- 
tion on Hawaii, and the number was greatly increased 
during the year." The number of learners was estimated 
at 16,000. The young princess, Nahienaena, showed her 
regard for learning by forbidding " any to enter her house 
who could not read hymns." Learning and religion were 
always associated, and increased attention to reading and 
education was followed by a revival of genuine piety, and 
many hopeful conversions. 

In 1826 the number of pupils in some 400 schools is esti- 
mated at 25,000, and " 2000 persons were known to be in 
the habit of family and secret prayer." 

In 1827 " the number, both of schools and learners, in- 
creased greatly." " Some of the principal chiefs spent a 
part of their time in teaching. 1 ' " The morals and customs 
of the people improved." Twelve were received to the 
Church, making the " whole number of native members 
23." " Ten of these were among the highest chiefs of the 
islands, and other chiefs stood propounded." 



REVIVALS IX THE SCHOOLS. 397 



Revivals in the Schools. 

la 1828, on Maui and three smaller islands were found 
225 schools, with 10,243 scholars, and the number soon 
after rose to 18,000 scholars, in a population of only 37,000 
in all. The adults, as well as children, thronged the schools 
for instruction, and the whole number of scholars on the 
islands was not less than 45,000. Minds thus aroused could 
not neglect the higher interests of the soul. A revival fol- 
lowed, and the year closed with 108 communicants, and 
multitudes were becoming enlightened, and anxious to know 
what they should do to be saved. 

In 1829 we find 39,208 scholars reported, and 185 com- 
municants. The influence of the schools was felt through- 
out the islands in favor of Christianity, and nearly half the 
population was receiving instruction in them. 

In 1830 there were 900 schools and 44,895 scholars. 112 
were received to church fellowship. 

A reinforcement this year of four missionaries and their 
wives, made the whole number of laborers who had been 
sent out by the Board 44. 

In 1831 the whole number of scholars reported is 52,882, 
probably more than half the entire population at that time. 
" The teachers, with few exceptions, were nothing but igno- 
rant savages who had learned to read," but the schools 
served to arrest attention, and bring the people under 
Christian teaching, and did rapidly elevate them above their 
previous ignorance and degradation. But a higher educa- 
tion was desirable, and hence the mission opened the high- 
school at Lahaina, with 25 scholars. The year closed with 
400 native communicants. 

A reinforcement of 19 persons sailed for the islands this 
year, of whom 7 were ordained missionaries. 

In 1832 " the high-school increased to more than 60 
scholars." The whole number of pupils is not reported, 
but the church members received from the beginning are 
stated to be 577. 

In 1833 the young king relapsed into vice, and many of 



3P8 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

-the people followed his example. Hence " great numbers 
forsook the schools;" so closely did the interests of religion 
and learning cling together. Yet the high-school made 
itself felt for good, and " at nearly every station some of the 
missionaries or their wives engaged in teaching," and '■ ef- 
forts for the education of children were increased." 

In 1834 "the Hawaiian Seminary, the first newspaper 
ever printed on the islands, was struck off." This was 
designed for the high-school ; and another, the Hawaiian 
Teacher, was soon commenced at Honolulu for general circu- 
lation. Another reinforcement of eight laborers was sent 
out this year. 

In 1835 " schools were taught by the members of the mis- 
sion at all the stations, and greater numbers of children were 
induced to attend. Hoapili ordered all children on Maui, 
over four years of age, to be sent to school. The high- 
school had 118 students. The whole number of church 
members from the beginning was 864. 

In 1836 the schools prospered, and a revival was enjoyed, 
"especially in the high-school." "The first class that en- 
tered this seminary, 23 in number, completed their studies 
this year, and 20 or 30 of these 'graduates' were employed 
as school-masters, generally with good effect." 212 were 
received this year to the Church. A reinforcement of 15 
men (9 school-masters) and 17 women were sent to join the 
mission. 

In 1837 " the schools improved." " Graduates from the 
high-school were scattered through the islands as teachers." 
It was sending out an increasing number every year, and 
" Mr. Coan had 90 teachers under his instruction," and thus 
better qualified teachers were being rapidly supplied. 

1049 church members were reported in good standing. 

In 1838 " schools were better taught, better attended, and 
better supported;" and "progress towards complete civiliza- 
tion was manifest in every department of society" but the 
government. A great impulse was given to the mind of 
the nation, rousing it to thought, and impelling to better 
pursuits and higher attainments. A large blessing followed 



REVIVALS IN THE SCHOOLS. f>99 

the labors and prayers of this } 7 ear, religion was revived at 
every station, and some 5000 converts were added to the 
churches. 

In 1839 the report of the mission gives many interesting 
details of the station and high-schools, speaks of 200 com- 
mon schools, and continues the account of the " glorious 
revival" in progress at the close of the previous year. This 
revival continued, and 10,725 were added to the churches, 
making the whole number in regular standing 15,915. If 
any one would know more particularly the influence of the 
schools, in preparing the way for, and carrying on this pre- 
cious work of grace, let him read the following paragraph 
from Mr. Coan, giving account of one of them : " But the 
crowning blessing of all is the precious influences of the 
Holy Spirit in the school. These influences have continu- 
ally descended in soft showers like the gentle rain and the 
early dew. The attention of the school can always be ar- 
rested by the subject of religion ; and, when they are affec- 
tionately addressed on this subject, the fixed eye, the solemn 
inquisitive look, and the silent tear tell the operations of the 
Holy Agent within. Their consciences are already very 
tender, and we believe that many of their hearts have been 
formed into the image of Christ. Eleven of their number 
are members of the Church, and they have thus far adorned 
their profession. Others, we trust, are born again, and it 
may be said of all, that, so far as man can judge, their con- 
duct is nearly unexceptionable." 

The government was this year brought more under the 
controlling influence of the Gospel, and this resulted in a 
new and improved code of laws. 

In 1840 " a law was enacted requiring all children over 
four and under fourteen years of age, to attend school five 
days every week." Provision was also made, assigning 
land for the support of the teachers. The revival continued 
to some extent, and 4179 were added to the churches ; the 
whole number received from the beginning being 21,879, 
and 18,451 being then in good standing. Four missionaries 
and their wives were sent as a reinforcement. 



400 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Iii 1841 the mission reports 357 common schools, with 
18,034 pupils, 6 boarding-schools with 202 scholars, the 
seminary with 80 students, and some other schools. More 
than o0 school-houses were erected, and 1473 persons were 
received to church fellowship. 

In 1842 there were 313 common schools, with 19,000 
pupils, 319 boarding scholars, and 160 students in the semi- 
nary. ' : Of the 144 who have been connected with the 
seminary, 105 are usefully employed as teachers, 35 are offi- 
cers of government, (8 of them teaching part of the time,) 
and 7 are engaged in other useful employments. Of the 
whole, 73 are church members in regular standing. 1 ' A 
large portion of the boarding-pupils were hopefully pious. 
"A paragraph from Mr. Armstrong shows that the schools 
are accomplishing their great object. He writes : " The 
progress of the pupils is surprising. There are compara- 
tively few children over eight years of age who can not 
read the Testament." Says Mr. Lyons : "I have had the 
most gratifying evidence of the progress made by the 
pupils." 

It is worthy of notice that when the Papists came in and 
attempted to resist and supplant the Protestant missions, 
they at once " decried and opposed the school laws, and 
endeavored to counteract the chiefs in their efforts for edu- 
cating the people." 

During this year " the Spirit of the Lord was still poured 
out, sinners brought to inquiry and repentance, and the 
churches enlarged." The additions were 2443. 

In 1843, 310 common schools report some 20,000 scholars, 
the boarding-schools 361, while the seminary and several 
select schools continued to prosper. The school for chiefs 
had 14 pupils. This had been in existence several years, 
and its influence was great and decidedly good. The mis- 
sionaries say : " The cause of education is evidently advanc- 
ing in these islands. An influence is going out from the 
seminaries to act upon the common schools, and then this 
influence is reflected back upon the seminaries, and in both 
cases the standard of education is raised." 



value of the schools. 401 

" Christian instruction is obviously exerting an elevating 
and improving influence upon the character and habits of the 
people." " Nearly all the children in the districts attend 
school more or less regularly." The additions to the Church 
this year were 5296. 

In 1844 the schools continued prosperous. " Probably 
nearly one fifth part of the population is in one class of 
schools or another." The admissions to the Church are re- 
ported to be 1110. 

Value of the Schools. 

In the report for 1847, the missionaries give the following 
testimony to the value of the seminary : 

" On the whole, the institution is evidently scattering 
blessings throughout the nation. Its graduates are every 
where the leading members of society, in matters civil, re- 
ligious, and literary. Some of the present pious pupils are 
regarded as among the most promising young men in the 
nation." This year the government appropriated $40,000 
annually for the common schools, and the Board had no 
longer to make provision for them. They had kindled a 
fire in the nation so large that it now became a self-sustain- 
ing flame. 

In 1848 the Minister of Instruction says : " The number 
of youth in all the schools on the islands may be safely es- 
timated at 20,000, and it is believed that in no year since 
the introduction of Christianity, has the cause of national 
education advanced more steadily and surely, not to say 
rapidly." " It is a cause which, takes deeper and stronger 
hold of the national mind, and, if vigorously sustained, can 
not but produce the most lasting and important benefits." 

Of the seminary, Mr. Alexander writes : "It is annually 
sending out streams of the best influence to every part of 
the nation. To it our churches owe much of their prosper- 
ity. It supplies many of our schools with their teachers. 
The good of the nation as well as the prosperity of the mis- 
sion, demands that this institution be well sustained." 

In the report of the Board for 1853, we find the announce- 
ment: " The people of the Sandwich Islands are a Christian 



402 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

nation ! Our appropriate work on those Islands, as a For- 
eign Missionary Society, is completed." 

" One fourth, part of the inhabitants are members in re- 
gular standing of Protestant Christian churches." " The 
language is reduced to writing, and is read by nearly a 
third part of the people. The schools contain the great 
body of the children and youth. The annual outlay for 
education, chiefly by the government, exceeds $50,000." 

From the first, more than 40,000 had been received to 
church fellowship, and 22,236 were then in regular stand- 
ing, contributing more than $25,000 a year to Christian and 
benevolent objects. 

What power effected this mighty change in a whole 
people in one short generation ? Doubtless the Gospel and 
the grace and spirit of God. But what were the effective 
human instrumentalities in disposing the people to listen, 
and bringing the truth of God to bear on their minds and 
hearts ? Let the missionaries themselves answer. Speak- 
ing of the schools in 1852 they write : " They are a leaven 
in the nation, which is working changes in the character of 
the population, slowly to be sure, but steadily, constantly, 
and certainly. They are doing a great and good work for 
the nation." 

Recall the history of the mission from the landing of that 
first missionary band — from the moment the king was seen 
learning to read — trace the influence of the schools till half 
the . population was embraced in them as learners, and the 
whole nation was moved — estimate their value in rousing- 
thought and bringing the people together under stated in- 
struction, till the focus of God's truth could be concentrated 
on their hearts. Oh ! who can doubt the mighty and trans- 
forming influence of those schools in effecting this blessed 
work ? What would oral preaching have availed to this 
day without them ? We claim no undue credit for these 
schools. To God be all the glory for the wonders of his 
love and mercy to that once degraded but now evangelized 
people. But if we would learn to do the work of God, let 
us not ignore or neglect the instrumentalities on which he 
bestows his special blessings. 



CHAPTER XII. 

MISSION TO THE NESTORIANS OF PERSIA. 

Shall we examine the history and agencies of another 
mission among the Orientals ? Let us take that to the Nes- 
torians of Persia. Mr. Perkins, the first missionary to this 
people, reached Tabrez in August, 1834. He engaged Mar 
Yohannan as his teacher, and the first plain indication of 
favor to the mission appears in the fact that the patriarch, 
Mar Elias, " was delighted with the Syriac spelling -booh and 
Scriptures, and with the prospect of printing in the language 
of the Nestorians." Hence he " thanked God for the com- 
mencement of the mission. 

Schools are the First Effective Agency. 

In 1835 we find the mission established at Ooroomiah. 
The bishop, Mar Yohannan, and priest 'Abraham, had been 
taken into the service of the mission, and each had "opened 
a school for teaching English in his native village." "A 
few of the boys formed the nucleus of a mission school at 
Ooroomiah." " It was proposed that Mr. Perkins should 
instruct a Lancasterian school for educating teachers." 
" Here one scholar from each of the thirty Nestorian vil- 
lages was to be boarded and taught gratuitously, at an ex- 
pense of about twenty dollars a year." 

This school was so popular that the Mohammedans be- 
came jealous of the favor thus shown to the Nestorians, and 
the mission felt it necessary to open a school for them also. 



4(U MISSION SCHOOLS. 

How significant that in every mission, schools are the firs* 
and potent agency to win favor and arouse, to thought. 

In 1836 the seminary was opened and had forty-four 
scholars. " There were also three free schools containing 
ninety-three pupils, of whom eight were females." "An 
uncle of the King of Persia visited the mission and became 
acquainted with the schools, and the next day, unsolicited, 
sent a firman commending the mission, and commanding the 
governor to protect it from all evil." 

In 1887, "A bishop, two priests, a deacon," and several 
ecclesiastics were in the service of the mission, and there was 
"a constant advance in promoting education and the know- 
ledge of divine truth." 

In 1838, though the financial embarrassments of the 
Board pressed hard upon the mission, yet the missionaries 
managed to avoid the necessity of suspending their schools, 
evidently regarding them as vital to the best interests of the 
mission. 

Of the fifty students in the seminary " two were bishops, 
three priests, and four deacons. Twelve were studying 
English and four Hebrew." The unevangelized helpers 
of the mission were eight; "three bishops, two priests, and 
three deacons." Mar Elias, the oldest bishop in the pro- 
vince, was superintendent of the village schools. 

In 1839 the mission had 12 free schools, with 293 pupils, 
17 girls in a boarding-school, and 55 students in the semi- 
nary. Priest Dunka, one of the helpers and scholars of the 
mission, is the first of whom we find recorded that he "gave 
indications of piety." 

In 1840 we find the announcement, " Preaching to the 
ISTestorians had now fairly begun." This evidently alludes 
to formal preaching. Who can doubt that the preparatory 
work in the schools, and the Christian instruction thus 
quietly communicated, was quite as important and quite as 
effective as the formal preaching which now commenced ? 
Nay, who can doubt that without this preparatory work the 
most eloquent formal preaching would have been in vain? 

This preparatory work secured the favor of the priests 



TITE PRECIOUS GRAIN SHALL NOT BE LOST. 405 

and bishops, and through them of the people. The mission, 
from the outset, employed the clergy as teachers and helpers. 
They became "the foremost students in the seminary, and 
the teachers of all the free schools." The mission thus 
availed itself of the powerful influence of the clergy in se- 
curing its great object. Its wisdom in this respect is dis- 
tinctly recognized in the reports of the Board. Had the 
mission acted on the narrow policy now enjoined in India, 
and employed none but Christian teachers, how changed 
would have been its history I Thank God for the broader 
and wiser views which then prevailed. 

In 1841 the mission had 20 free schools in as many vil- 
lages, and a seminary and girls' boarding-school. The 
whole number of scholars was 516, taught by 19 priests and 
19 deacons. Schools were requested in eight other villages, 
and " one of them was soon to be opened." 

In 1842 we find the value of schools attested by the fol- 
lowing report. " The seminary contains 70 pupils, and the 
female boarding-school 18. There are 40 free schools in 80 
villages, containing 635 male, and 128 female pupils, or 763 
in all. The whole number under instruction is 851." 
" The schools create a demand for books, furnish fresh re- 
cruits for our seminary, do away the influence of the child- 
ish and worse than unprofitable writings of many of their 
melpanos, form a taste and predilection for the Holy Scrip- 
tures, open the door for preaching the Gospel, and create and 
supply a demand for an intelligent native ministry." 
" The whole number of [unevangelized] teachers employed 
in the village schools is 56, 22 of whom are priests and 26 
deacons." 

n The Precious Grain shall not be Lost." 

In 1843 we find 44 village free schools with 1065 pupils, 
and the whole number in all the schools 1142. And now 
for the first time, we see the seed so long, wisely and pa- 
tiently sown and cultivated, springing up and bearing the 
first fruits of a glorious harvest. The mission was permitted 
" to enjoy a refreshing from the presence of the Lord, though 



406 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

they hardly dared to call it a revival A few gave evidence 
of having passed from death nnto life, others were serious, 
and many were unusually attentive to the preaching of the 
Gospel." 

Who were the converts ? The report says : " Most of 
the hopeful converts were young men of promise, who had 
long been members of the seminary, or in some way connected 
with the mission." 

Patriarch and Priests oppose the Schools. 

In 1844 the patriarchal family became hostile to the mis- 
sion, and enlisting the inferior ecclesiastics, a storm of op- 
position burst upon the mission. In all such opposition 
why are mission schools a special object of attack ? Is not 
the fact sufficient evidence that the enemy value rightly the 
influence of these schools ? During this storm of opposi- 
tion, the mission found it necessary to give up, for a time, 
all its schools. Many of the pupils left with tears and bitter 
grief, and their strong attachment to the schools did much 
to dispose their parents to send them back again, even in 
disregard of the hostile priests. 

The girls' boarding-school was soon in operation again 
with 43 pupils, and a gracious influence was manifest among 
them. We read: "The female teacher of the primary de- 
partment gives cheering evidence of being born again. Oth- 
ers in the school are in a thoughtful and serious state of 
mind." The boys' seminary was also resumed. 

In 1845 the 2 seminaries had each 40 pupils, and 32 
village schools were reopened with 482 pupils. The report 
says : " As many as six of the teachers have recently be- 
come hopefully pious. The schools are lights in the villages 
where they exist, and it is desirable they should be multi- 
plied." 

The Secretary and Committee approve of Heathen Teachers. 

In the report of this year the Prudential Committee ex- 
press views in regard to the support and education of heath- 
en as boarding pupils, and the employment of heathen teach- 



COMMITTEE S APPROVAL OF HEATHEN TEACHERS. 407 

ers, such as deserve the thoughtful consideration of all who 
are interested in the work of missions. Four unevangel- 
ized bishops were supported by this mission as boarding pu- 
pils, and employed, at the same time, as native helpers. In 
justifying this practice the Prudential Committee say : "It 
is the belief of the Committee that no part of the appropri- 
ation for educating a native ministry in that mission, has 
been more proper than this," namely, the $225 paid to 
those bishops as boarding pupils. " Why, if the mission 
has a seminary for training a native ministry, should they 
disregard the fact that the higher ecclesiastics of the pro- 
vince were ready to become their pupils?" " Supposing that 
none of them were pious, who could tell what the grace of 
God might do for them ? Placing them in this connection, 
[boarding scholars in the seminary,] was the most appropri- 
ate means of bringing them under the power of the Gospel." 
The Committee go on to justify the allowance to these 
bishops on the ground of their influence, as leading eccle- 
siastics, in bringing the people into schools and under the 
teaching of the mission. They also justify the employment 
of these unconverted bishops as native helpers, and refer to 
our practice in India. " In the Ceylon mission," they say, 
" the school- masters for some time were necessarily heath- 
ens, and so they were in the Mahratta missions. In the 
missions in Western Asia, it has not been till of late that 
the teachers of the mission schools were to any great ex- 
tent pious men, and really interested in the objects of the 
missions. Yet their services, regarding the circumstances, 
were believed to be an equivalent for what they cost." 
How came our Prudential Committee and their worthy 
Deputation wholly to discard these sentiments, in 1854, and 
to interdict all heathen teachers in new missions in India ? 
In 1845 they justified the employment of unconverted native 
helpers even. In 1854 they interdicted unconverted teach- 
ers, employed only to teach secular knowledge, where schools 
thus gathered were the only means of obtaining a hearing 
for the Gospel. And was this without any change of 
views ? 



408 MISSION SCHOOLS 



' For Grace insures the Crop." 



This year witnessed a precious revival in the Nestorian 
mission, which deserves a special record. The first in- 
stances of conversion occurred in the female seminary. The 
religious concern soon spread to the other seminary, and 
" increased with great rapidity." In giving some account 
of this revival, Dr. Anderson says: "It began in Januaiy 
and was still in progress near the close of June, and has 
resulted in the hopeful conversion of more than 100 souls, 
including a number of ecclesiastics." More than 50 of these 
converts were in the two seminaries. " This outpouring of 
the Spirit properly dates its commencement in the two sem- 
inaries." Mr. Stocking writes : " Never, any where, have I 
witnessed in awakened sinners apparently more thorough 
convictions of sin, a deeper sense of their lost and ruined 
state and inability to save themselves, than was manifested 
in the generality of cases in the school and around us. Days 
and weeks together, devoted almost exclusively to religious 
conversation with inquirers, in various stages of interest 
among the pupils of this (the female) school, and with the 
majority of those interested in Mr. Stoddard's seminary, led 
me to feel that as genuine and wonderful a work of divine 
grace has been wrought here, as any I have ever witnessed 
in revivals in America." "There was great tenderness of 
conscience, and an uncommon disposition to spend time 
in prayer. During as many as sixteen hours of the twenty- 
four, the voice of prayer did not cease to be heard." 

Speaking of the state of feeling in the seminary the mis- 
sionaries say: "Though we have opened for retirement 
every room about the premises that can possibly be spared 
from other uses, such is the disposition to pray without 
ceasing, and so numerous are those who are awakened, that 
individuals are often distressed because they can find no 
place in which to pour out their souls to Grod. This even- 
ing ten of our pupils seem to be reposing their all on Christ, 
and are in a very interesting state of mind." The village 
schools also shared in this precious revival. At Greog Tapa, 



GRACE INSURES THE CROP. 409 

John, one of the helpers, "found all the members of one 
school in the village weeping, and some seriously inquiring 
the way of life." 

A young man who was to be bishop in place of Mar 
Elias, on the death of the latter, being among the converts 
in the seminary, engaged in earnest labors for the salvation 
of others. The people, on hearing him exhort, were over- 
heard to say that if this new heart' made such bishops as 
lie, " they wished Mr. Stoddard had all of them in his 
school." 

The report groups together many miscellaneous items, 
showing the influence and value of the schools. " JSTot 
many weeks ago," writes one of the missionaries, " every 
member of the seminary seemed more or less sunk in stu- 
pidity and sin. ISTow, besides the two teachers, 30 of the 
pupils are hoping that they have been washed 'in the blood 
of Christ." " We have had in the seminary to-day 25 vis- 
itors, mostly young men from the neighboring villages." 
" Our oldest pupils have been very prayerful and laborious 
in efforts to do them good, and our rooms have,, from morn- 
ing to night, reminded one of an inquiry -meeting. We must 
believe that the seminary is thus exerting a powerful influ- 
ence, not only by training up young men for usefulness 
hereafter, but by attracting around us, at the present time, 
those from abroad who are in any measure awakened to the 
truth." " At Geog Tapa, where ten of our pupils belong, 
the effect of their labors has been very happy, and at the 
close of the vacation many of their relatives "had become 
interested in the truth, and some hopefully converted to 
Christ. In the case of one young man ; his father, mother, 
brother, and sister have all been awakened." 

At Karajala "the teacher of the school" and "several 
of his older scholars were also awakened." At Ardishai, 
coming upon a gathering of people, Dr. Perkins found 
among them a young girl from Miss Fisk's school reading 
to them the Dairyman's Daughter, and telling the wonder- 
ful things of God. 

Thus, wherever the work spread, it showed its close con- 

18 



410 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

nection with, the schools. In 1846 we find 76 pupils in the 
two seminaries, and 462 in the 30 village schools. " In the 
early part of this year the female seminary was blessed with 
another work of grace, and it is hoped that nine more of 
its pupils have been born again." " Almost all our pupils 
and domestics are hopeful Christians ; and most of the [un- 
evangelized] teachers who have joined us for the summer, 
listen with deep interest to the truth." A little girl from 
Hakkie had become a Christian in Miss Fisk's school. " Her 
father, an untamed mountaineer, soon came down to visit 
her. The silken cords of love were thrown around him, 
and on all sides he was pointed by these young disciples to 
the cross of Christ. He heard first with indifference, then 
with wonder. As his light increased, and the conviction 
pressed on him that he was a lost sinner, his heart rose in 
opposition. -He struggled, though unsucessfully, with his 
feelings. The strong man was bowed down, and wept like 
a little child, and it was not long before the trembling rebel 
became a peaceful Christian. This man was deacon Guer- 
gis," always abundant, after his conversion, in zeal and 
labors for Christ, till the Lord called him home. 

Eight months after the commencement of this blessed re- 
vival in the schools, the missionaries reckoned the genuine 
converts u at not less than 150." 

In 1847 the mission reports 73 scholars in the seminaries, 
and 608 in 36 village schools. They value these schools as so 
many lights in the villages, and find urgent calls to increase 
their number. In 1848 the Patriarch again became hostile, 
and another storm of persecution burst upon the mission. 
The Patriarch endeavored to close all the schools, and ar- 
rest the entire missionary work among the people. But his 
wicked devices failed, and the storm passed over. 

This year, too, the mission enjoyed another blessed re- 
vival. It commenced, as before, in the seminaries, and 
" all the pupils were deeply impressed by a sense of the di- 
vine presence." "The impenitent members of the seminary 
were powerfully wrought upon by the mighty energies of 
the Spirit, some of them being under very deep convictions 



THIRD REVIVAL Iff THE SCHOOLS. 411 

of sin, and nearly all awakened to a sense of their dreadful 
depravity and their utterly lost condition." 

In 1849, 32 village schools had 598 pupils, 12 of their 
teachers were priests, " and about half the whole number 
of teachers were hopefully pious." The report testifies, 
" these schools are a very important instrumentality," " sap- 
ping the foundations of superstition and ignorance." 

Third Revival in the Schools. 

The seminaries continued to prosper, and a third precious 
revival found its origin in these nurseries of piety. It com- 
menced in January of 1850, and continued with remarkable 
power. " Scores have been bowed down under the Spirit's 
influence, as the trees of the wood under a rushing mighty 
wind." Of the work in the male seminary Mr. Cochran, 
after describing an evening prayer-meeting, writes : " At 
the close of the meeting the teachers came to my room, say- 
ing that the scholars were weeping and desired that another 
prayer-meeting should be held. Upon entering the school 
I found all with their heads bowed, and many offering ejac- 
ulatory prayer. For some time remarks were made, and 
prayer was offered. At length, however, the weeping be- 
came so loud and general, that I feared the result of further 
excitement." He therefore requested them to go to their 
closets. 

"During the devotions of the next morning the intensity 
of their feelings could find vent only in sighs and audible 
weeping, and from that time the work advanced with great 
rapidity and power." 

In the girls' school the work was no less extensive and 
searching. The older girls spent every leisure moment in 
prayer, several of them five hours every day. " Every day 
gave increasing evidence of the power of this gracious work. 
Up to the close of the term there was no diminution of in- 
terest." The converts were unceasing in efforts for the con- 
version of relatives, friends and neighbors who were still out 
of Christ. 



412 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

The special power of this revival was seen in the semina- 
ries, but its influence extended to some of the villages, es- 
pecially Geog Tapa. 

In 1850 the seminaries had 74 pupils, and thirty-five vil 
lage schools had 663. Another (fourth) " gracious outpour- 
ing of the Holy Spirit came down upon both the seminaries 
in the early part of 1851. " There was every mark of a 
genuine revival, nor was the interest confined to the semi- 
naries." Commencing with these favored institutions, its 
influence extended to other schools, and the villages where 
they were located. 

In 1851 the mission reports 82 scholars in the seminaries, 
of whom 30 young men and nearly all the girls were 
hopefully pious. " The religious experience of many of 
these young men," says the mission, " is of such a character 
that a stranger on coming amongst them would suppose 
that he was in the midst of a revival." The free schools 
increased this year to 58, with 1023 pupils. " The increase 
is owing to a growing interest in education among the peo- 
ple, and would have been still greater but for the want of 
teachers and funds." In different villages 263 adults, also, 
were ranged in classes and learning to read. " Every school 
is also a nucleus for preaching." 

In 1852 these village schools increased to 60, with 1038 
pupils, while the male seminary had 40, and the female 
seminary, 50 pupils. 

A fifth revival is reported in both seminaries, described 
"as unspeakably precious in quickening believers, reclaim- 
ing backsliders, and bringing a number, as is hoped, into 
the fold of Christ." 

In 1853 there were 79 village schools, with 1334 pupils, 
and the two seminaries had 90. These schools were the 
light and joy of the mission, and its special hope for coming 
3^ears. Of the 54 young men who had gone out from the 
seminary, 34 were " regarded as pious, many of them de- 
votedly so." " Nine are efficient and able preachers of the 
Gospel, and 19 others are so far preachers that they can 
conduct religious meetings in the villages with great accept- 



SIXTH AND SEVENTH REVIVALS. 413 

ance and usefulness." " Twenty-five are regular teachers in 
the village schools ; one is superintendent of these schools ; 
three are teachers in the seminaries ; one a translator, and 
one a printer." Mr. Stoddard remarks: " In almost every 
case our scholars have joined the schools when strangers to 
the cross of Christ. But of those who have left us two 
tldrds have gone forth the hopeful heirs of heaven ; and it 
is delightful to feel that they preach Christ wherever 
they go." 

Another (the sixth) blessed revival is reported in the two 
seminaries. " Many were inquiring what they should do to 
be saved, and many gave evidence of a saving change." 
The work extended to some of the villages, but its special 
influence was seen and felt in the schools. 

In 1854, 75 free schools contained 1245 pupils, and large 
classes of adults, both men and women, were learning to 
read, and coming thus under stated Christian instruction. 
" In some parts of the field great enthusiasm was manifested 
on the subject of education." In one village 70 adults 
had begun to learn to read, so thoroughly were the people 
aroused to the advantages of education. Young men and 
women were going out from the seminaries and schools to 
remote parts of the country, increasing this enthusiasm, .and 
diffusing light and truth wherever they went. 

Opposition was attempted in some quarters. Two young 
men from the seminary, attempting to open a school in 
Khosrova, were set upon by a mob, and narrowly escaped 
with their lives. This opposition, as usual, was directed 
against the schools. 

In 1855 the male seminary had 48, and the female semi- 
nary, 50 pupils. "They are felt to be sources of rich bless- 
ing to the people." " Both institutions have again been 
visited with the special influences of the Holy Spirit." 

The agent of the Persian government, Asker Khan, 
showed some opposition to the mission this year, and his 
opposition was directed especially against the village schools. 
These were consequently diminished somewhat, but the 
fidelity of the teachers, and the interest and courage of the 



414 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

people kept most of them in operation, and the report men- 
tions 60, with 1120 pupils. This {seventh) revival is de- 
scribed as one of precious and saving efficacy. " The feel- 
ing in both schools became very general and deep." " The 
voice of weeping and prayer was heard on every side. The 
prayer-closets were filled to a late hour by those who were 
pleading for mercy, and a large proportion of those who 
were not pious appeared to be seeking in earnest the narrow 
way." " With the exception of the youngest and most re- 
cently admitted, nearly all were indulging the hope that 
the}- had passed from death unto life." 

1856. — Government opposition continued this year, es- 
pecially against the village schools, so that they were re- 
duced to 53, with 894 pupils. The thirst for education 
among the people was only increasing, and half the adults in 
one village were learning to read. The male seminary had 
69 pupils, and the other, 40. 

Another (the eighth) revival is reported in both seminaries. 
In the male seminary " most of the pupils were more or less 
affected, and as many as 20 gave evidence of a saving 
change." In the female seminary " there is good evidence 
that several have begun to know the Lord. The work has 
been characterized by great stillness and power." Of 103 
who had been connected with this school, " 60, or more than 
half, are hopefully pious, and the same may be said of three 
fourths of the present number." Of 150 young men who 
had belonged to the seminary, 91 were hopefully pious, and 
" a large portion of all who have left it are either preachers 
of the Gospel or very competent teachers of the village 
schools." 

"We pause here in the history of this favored mission. 
On which of its agencies has the special blessing of God 
rested most largely ? What could its earnest and faithful 
laborers have accomplished without their mission schools ? 

Eecall the facts of this and the Sandwich Islands mission, 
the special blessings coming down in almost continuous 
showers of mercy, one precious revival following closely on 
the former, and impressing the divine seal upon these 



EIGHTH REVIVAL. 415 

schools in characters of living light, and can we conceive a 
greater calamity to either of these missions, short of their 
complete extinction, than an official suppression of their 
schools in their early history, like that which was enforced 
in the new missions of India in 1854 and 1855 ? May we 
learn wisdom both from the large blessings attending these 
schools, and the glorious harvests gathered in from them 
when allowed to prosper unrestricted, and also from the 
things we have suffered in their suppression. 



C ON C L US I N. 



In closing this volume there are a few points which I de- 
sire to guard. 

1 . Will any fancy that my life and labors in India have 
been somewhat restricted to schools, and that this may have 
caused an undue bias in their favor ? This would be a mis- 
apprehension. It is true the first duties imposed upon me 
by my brethren were in connection with the schools, and I 
always had one or more under my care, except while they 
were suppressed by the Deputation ; but my labors and in- 
terest were never limited to them. 

Before I had been at Ahmednuggur a twelvemonth the 
mission sent me on a preaching and exploring tour which 
extended three or four hundred miles, and occupied nearly 
two months. I spent from one to four months in such itin- 
eracies each year of my life in India, till the last, when 
health was too much broken. I have a high appreciation 
of this kind of labor, and if a Deputation should interdict 
it I should grieve for it as sincerely as I do for the schools. 

I also became much interested in helping to prepare a 
Christian literature. Besides labor in Bible-translation, as 
one of the Committee of the " Bombay Bible Society" the 
leisure moments, not occupied in oral preaching or the care 
of schools, enabled me to prepare some dozen different 
works in the Mahratta language, several of them original, 
varying from 80 to 220 pages, and the last one, a commen- 
tary on one of the Gospels, extending to over 800 pages — 



CONCLUSION. 417 

all published either by the mission or " The Bombay Tract 
and Book Society." If this department of our work were in- 
terdicted, should I not do right to grieve for it ? 

ISTor is this all. As pastor of the dear flock at the out- 
stations in the beautiful valley of the Goclavery, and pastor 
for a time of the large native church at Abmednuggur, I 
became deeply interested in the regular preaching and pas- 
toral duties involved, and estimate their importance very 
highly. May we never be restricted in these labors ! It is 
with an eye to the harmonious working of all these depart- 
ments that I plead for the schools. We can not afford to be 
deprived of any agency that helps so effectively to win 
souls to Christ. 

2. My beloved brethren and associates in the missions: Let 
no one infer that I am lacking in the kindest and most fra- 
ternal feelings towards them. If the views of any of them 
conflict with mine, they will be found to conflict quite as 
much with their own. I have let them speak at length in 
these pages, and rejoice to find my views so fully indorsed 
and ably sustained, not only by all my associates, but by all 
the officers of the Board, up to a recent date. Some of my 
brethren found occasion to change their former views, when 
the Deputation came to India ; but I can not cease to love 
them on this account. The ties of Christian brotherhood 
are too sacred to be thus broken. The long years of co- 
labor and Christian communion are linked with tender and 
cherished remembrances which shall not be forgotten on my 
part. I trust they are aware that I am always happy to be 
associated with each or all of them in the most intimate re- 
lations, and in all efforts by which we may save souls and 
advance this blessed cause of Christ. 

8. The members of the Deputation. Have I spoken too 
plainly of them? I suppose Grod gave us speech that we 
might speak plainly and honestly. The facts of history ought 
to speak ; its lessons ought to be garnered up for the benefit 
of the Church and of the world. I think great errors 
were committed ; but " to err is human." 

And let no one infer that I am wanting in kind and fra- 

18* 



418 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

ternal feeling towards these brethren. The memory of pre- 
cious interviews for social and Christian intercourse in India, 
of the pleasant week spent at Roxburj since our return to 
America, of the delightful season with brother Thompson, 
whose poetic taste is not more marked than his genial social 
elements — that precious season when we gathered at the 
table of our common Lord, sharing in the sacred service ; 
why should we not cherish such memories till we eat bread 
and drink wine anew in our Father's house above, where 
the errors of Christian men shall be all forgotten or remem- 
bered only to enhance our estimate of the wonders of re- 
deeming love and sanctifying grace ? 

4. The dear old Board. Do I not love it ? Have not the 
last years of my life been spent in its service ? Am I not 
a life partner, and have I not a life-interest in it, in a higher 
sense than is true of any co-partners who remain here in 
this Christian land ? 

The dedication of this volume expresses the truest feel- 
ings of my heart. I have admired and loved the American 
Board from my earliest years. The impressions and pur- 
poses stirred in my soul by the story of Harriet Newell, 
and that first devoted band of young missionaries whose in- 
extinguishable desires, prayers, and efforts resulted under 
Grod in the formation of the Board, are among my first and 
most cherished recollections. Our dearest friends on earth 
are those who have ever loved this Board and supported it 
largely with their prayers and their money. They love it 
still with an affection which no mistakes of its officers or 
missionaries can wholly destroy. There may be imperfec- 
tions in the organization of the Board which give undue in- 
fluence to some in its direction who love power ; if so, they 
ought to be corrected. There may have been lacking a 
lively feeling of responsibility and a proper measure of 
watchfulness on the part of the corporate members ; if so, 
let them be more vigilant. Errors have been committed ; 
let them be retrieved. Restrictions have been imposed ; let 
them be withdrawn. But let no man imagine I have be- 
come an enemy of the Board because of the errors I depre- 



CONCLUSION. 419 

cate. I have loved it, and labored and prayed for it, too 
long and too earnestly for this. It is embalmed in the sweet- 
est memories of my existence. I must be permitted to love 
and pray for it and rejoice in its prosperity while I live. 
God bless and prosper the dear old Board forever. 

5. The cause of missions. Shall this volume fail of its de- 
sign to help forward this glorious enterprise? Will any mind 
take advantage of the errors and conflicting statements of 
good men to disparage the work of missions ? Such a mind 
would take advantage of the "sharp dissension" of Paul 
and Barnabas to disparage their apostolic labors; nay, it 
would disparage Christianity and the Bible, because of the 
duplicity of Abraham and the crimes of David and other 
good meii which it faithfully records. Truth must be will- 
ing to live by truth. Christianity is light, loves light, and 
apart from this element she can not exist. Let not those 
whose business it is to spread the truth, ever be found con- 
cealing truth. 

No ; let the facts of these pages only inspire a higher, 
holier enthusiasm in this blessed work. High above all 
conflicting views of Boards and individuals, let the banner 
of our divine "Redeemer wave in triumph ; and while every 
eye is directed to that glorious inscription, " Go teach all 
nations," let every heart be nerved with a stronger, holier 
purpose to do what is possible to execute this blessed com- 
mission of the Son of God, till the Gospel shall become the 
joyful heritage of every nation and dweller on our globe. 

Too long has the Church of God rested in inglorious ease. 
Too long has she neglected her " marching orders." For 
eighteen centuries she has been in possession of this divine 
commission to disciple all nations, but her efforts have 
been faint and few — not at all commensurate with the diffi- 
culty and grandeur of the work, or the priceless value of 
immortal souls ! 

There needs to be a reexamination of the foundation- 
principles of this work, of the vital elements of the Gospel, 
divinely adapting it to all consciences, and fitting it to be 
aggressive in every land, subduing all hearts to Christ 



420 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

And the Church and every individual disciple of Jesus, 
needs to be baptized with the spirit of dear old Caleb, who, 
conscious of the giants, and the terrible difficulties involved 
in the conquest of Canaan, was still able to feel that he was 
one of " a chosen race" — one of "a royal priesthood" — • 
one of " a nation to whom pertained the promises" — and 
feeling thus, despite all the giants and the counter testimony 
of his timid brethren, was able to exclaim with holy enthu- 
siasm : " Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are 
well able to overcome it ! " 

The Church needs to be more conscious of her ability, 
under God, to do this work. She is not to wait for some 
new or miraculous power to accomplish it without her, but 
to feel that God has intrusted it to her, and is calling upon 
her to put her hand and her heart to it in earnest. 

I verily believe the Church of Christ is able to evangel- 
ize the heathen world in one short generation. I believe 
her resources, under God, are fully adequate to accomplish 
this work. I give utterance to this conviction, not hastily, 
but after mature reflection, and with a vivid impression, 
both of the deep depravity of the human Heart, and of the 
terribly debasing influence of heathen rites and superstitions. 
Pictures of the dark debasing features of Hinduism have 
never been overdrawn. But sin has no forms of malig- 
nancy for which the Gospel of the Son of God has not a 
remedy, if timely and faithfully applied. I have a deep con- 
viction of the inveteracy of Hindu caste and superstition, 
but I have a glorious conviction of the divine power of the 
Gospel. 

The promises of God guarantee its triumph. The terms 
of the title-deed of Christ's inheritance are sufficiently broad 
and explicit. " I will give thee the heathen for thine in- 
heritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy pos- 
session." "' The kingdoms of this world shall become the 
kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ." " Yea, all kings 
shall fall down before him ; all nations shall serve him." 

: These promises shine out on almost every page of God's 
word,. -resplendent, as so many stars of celestial magnitude. 



CONCLUSION. 4.21 

God never meant that these promises, bearing the impress 
of his own seal and glowing with all heaven's brightness, 
should fall lifeless on the faith and courage of his Church. 
He would have them tell with their full inspiration and 
power. He would have the disciples of Jesus go forth to 
the world's conquest, not in their own name, it is true, but 
in the name and strength of the Lord of Hosts, and with 
his own pledge of certain victory. Oh! what security of 
triumph is here ! He whose heart can faint or efforts tire, 
with such a divine guarantee of success, deserves no place 
on the battle-field. 

To my brethren, then, who are waiting for the consola- 
tion and the glory of Zion in heathen lands, let me say, be 
strong in hope and faith. Cherish expectations of a speedy 
and certain victory. If you ask the grounds of my confi- 
dence that the Church is able to evangelize India, I reply, 
Jehovah has declared it, and his grace and truth confirm 
it. My assurance is based, not on the physical strength, 
or powerful intellects, or moral courage, or the^ zeal, or 
piety, even, of your missionaries, nor yet on the superior 
wisdom of your Deputations. 

I expect no new invention of human wisdom for apply- 
ing the truth and spirit of Cod to the hearts of depraved 
men. We rejoice in the rapid introduction of the arts and 
sciences to Pagan lands, and rightly too. But railroads 
have no power to effect a moral regeneration. Magnetic 
telegraphs — -work by means of heaven's lightning, it is true, 
but they convey not heaven's grace to the heart of the un- 
regenerate. 

If the Church in America is looking to her great men 
and her wise men for some new appliances to carry forward 
the work of missions in India — if, distrusting the experience 
and judgment of her missionaries, who have voluntarily 
exiled themselves from all that is most dear in home, kin- 
dred, and native land, and who make Hindu character and 
superstitions constant subjects of investigation, and the most 
effective agencies for bringing Christian truth to bear on the 
understanding, consciences and hearts of the Hindus, the 



422 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

great object of life's study, toils, hopes and prayers — if, I 
say, distrusting the experience, or wisdom, or fidelity, of 
these first agents, whom she has commissioned and sent 
forth to this work, the Church now sends out Deputations 
destitute of any practical experience, and yet clothing them 
" with full power and authority" to change the plans and 
operations of the missions — to suppress schools and printing- 
presses, and lay restrictions on the time, manner, and lan- 
guages, in which they shall preach Christ — I care not how 
wise and good the men may be who constitute such Deputa- 
tions — if the Church is expecting in this way to legislate 
more rapid progress in the work of missions, she must expe- 
rience still farther disappointment and defeat. 

Would you commission two of your missionaries in India 
to go through all the missions of the Board, clothed " with 
full power and authority" to make such changes as they 
pleased ? All would condemn such a proposition at once. 
But would not such, missionaries, with twenty or thirty 
years' experience in India, be far better fitted for such a 
Deputation than two men from America, with no missionary 
experience at all ? 

And yet, count me not opposed to Deputations. If you 
will send us men clothed with limited power, equal only to 
that accorded to your missionaries, we will be thankful for 
their counsel, yield them all deference, and be glad of their 
votes on all subjects of business. We will be especially 
thankful for their sympathy, advice, and Christian inter- 
course, for our hearts often yearn for these with the long- 
ings of a thirsty soul in a parched and dreary land. 

But if you clothe one or two men " with full power and 
authority" to change plans and agencies deliberately and 
prayerfully adopted by ten, twenty, or fifty of your mission- 
aries, and that, too, after long years of careful observation 
and personal experience, while bearing the burden and heat 
of the day, you may expect disaster and disappointment. 

And yet, even such, a mistake shall not prevent the ulti- 
mate triumph of the Church in India. Mistakes may be 
made, but they shall all be retrieved. Defeats may be suf 



CONCLUSION. 423 

fered, but they shall all furnish valuable experience for the 
future. Neither the difficulties to be overcome, nor the 
magnitude of the work, nor errors in its prosecution, shall 
prevent our final victory. The conquest of India is sure — 
not because we are wise or mighty, but because " they that 
be for us are more than they that be against us." 

The truth of God, in its ehments^ as well as in its promises, 
furnishes an ample guarantee on this point. Christianity 
has elements to subdue the world. This conviction has 
gathered force and strength with me every day of loneliness 
and toil and trial in India. The Gospel possesses both 
inherent vitality and aggressive power. That was no un- 
meaning or unphilosophical petition of our divine Ee- 
deemer when he prayed for his disciples : " Father, sanctify 
them through thy truth." Divine truth, applied by the 
Spirit of God, has elements to humble human pride, to 
alarm and subdue the sinner, to convince and convert, to 
sanctify and save the soul. It has done this for thousands 
now in glory. It is able to effect the same for every devotee 
of superstition in India. 

As God liveth and is just, his truth shall never fail. 
Every enterprise for its vindication and victory shall grow, 
and gather strength, and finally triumph. The sympathy 
and efforts of those who love it, and the grace and power of 
Him who gave it, are a certain pledge of victory. Did not 
the Reformation of the sixteenth century begin with a clois- 
tered monk ? And yet it swept gloriously over Europe, 
and its genial vitalizing power and results still meet us on 
every hand. Was not Christianity itself cradled in a man- 
ger, and crucified on Calvary ? And yet to-day it is fresh 
as the morning, and going forth in the strength of omnipo- 
tence to subdue the earth ! 

Oh ! this mighty truth of God ! Drop it into all soil ; it 
will not be in vain. It will take root and spring up, and 
stretch out its arms to wrestle with the storms, and the sweet 
birds of heaven shall come to sing and dwell among its 
branches. Thank Gocl, too, all true-hearted service in the 
cause of Christ is closely linked with this divine truth. 



424 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Every sincere effort to bring God's truth to bear on human 
hearts shall have a destiny coeval with it. Like a sweet 
tone of music, it vibrates in harmony with divine purposes, 
and its celestial melody shall be prolonged forever. 

This truth of God has elements fitted to vitalize heathen 
hearts, and animate them with spiritual life. Not only is it 
pure and elevating, and just and holy, in all its require- 
ments, but its sanctions, in their effective force on the human 
soul, attest its divine origin. It deals in no fancy visions 
of a sensual paradise, but in the glorious realities of Jeho- 
vah's unveiled presence. It portrays no fabled Sisyphus, 
no physical pains of purgatory, no dreams of Hindu trans- 
migration, but God's own testimony to the reality of " the 
worm that never dies — the fire that is never quenched." 

This truth of God, with its solemn sanctions, finds, too, an 
answering counterpart in man's moral nature. It is a blessed 
fact that man, how r ever depraved, still retains the elements 
of conscience. It may be defiled — it may be seared for a 
time, as with a hot iron, but it still exists. Amidst the 
deepest moral debasement of fallen humanity, conscience 
still lives. Not in active power, it may be. It may lie 
inactive. Its voice, uniformly unheeded, may cease to be 
heard for years, but it still lives. It can not die. Sin can 
not destroy it. Death can not annihilate it. However long 
it may be suppressed — however deeply it may be seared and 
defiled, it will revive again, clothed with more terrific power 
for all the abuse it has suffered. From its fearful and 
avenging elements, have we not reason to believe it will 
constitute the undying worm in the world of the lost ? 

Yes, the Hindu has a conscience — weakened and defiled, 
it is true, by all the errors and superstitions of his false faith, 
and by all the wicked practices of his corrupt life — but it 
still lives, and under the influence of the word and Spirit of 
God it revives, and gives its powerful testimony in favor of 
Christianity. 

The elements of God's truth concentrate their focus with 
peculiar brightness on the cross of Christ, or rather, they 
radiate from the cross, gathering their peculiar power and 



CONCLUSION. 42;~i 

glory from it. Hindus, with no less scorn than Jew or 
Greek, reproach us with the folly of believing in a crucified 
Saviour — one who had not power, they say, to deliver him- 
self from his enemies. They tell us that he was betrayed and 
slain — that he went down into the grave in all the weakness 
of human nature. The fact that he rose again in the might 
of deity they deny, or leave out of view. They seem at 
times to share in the fancied triumph of those who led him 
away to Calvary. But like them, too, they understand not 
those meaning words : "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all 
men unto me? Glorious prophecy ! How bright and blessed 
the very beginning of its fulfillment! Hopeful believer, 
have we not here an ample guarantee that India and the 
world shall be Christ's? that "we are well able to over- 
come it"? 

A sinless Saviour is the felt want of fallen humanity. For 
such a Saviour we search every system of false religion in 
vain. The Hindus have no such Saviour. Amidst all their 
fabled incarnations — amidst all their 330,000,000 of fancied 
gods, there is not one to whom they themselves ascribe this 
attribute of sinless perfection. But when slain by the law — 
when scourged by an accusing conscience, the trembling 
sinner feels the need of such a Saviour. The Hindu, when 
his intellect becomes enlightened and his conscience roused 
by the force of divine truth, feels and admits that his only 
hope of pardon must rest on such a Saviour. 

Now here is the peculiar glory of the Gospel. Its divine, 
its joyous annunciation is : " God so loved the world as to 
give his only-begotten Son" — " God commendeth his love to- 
ward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." 
Here is the crowning glory of Christianity — the element 
which more than all else distinguishes it from every religion 
of man's invention. From every fragment of that lowly 
tomb where lay the Son of God, flashes in heaven's own 
brightness the evidence, not only of man's immortality, but 
of God's infinite love and mercy. Around the cross of the 
despised Nazarene gathers a glory which shall shine with 
ever-increasing lustre, while God reigns and redeemed 
spirits strike their golden harps ! 



426 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

" Oh ! for such love let rocks and hills 
Their lasting silence break, 
And all harmonious human tongues 
The Saviour's praises speak." 

Who can wonder that the early disciples made it the great 
burden of their preaching to bear witness to the resurrection 
of Christ ? That Paul determined to know nothing among 
his hearers but Christ and him crucified ? Christianity has 
become a blessed fact and power in the world. Christ has 
been lifted up. His cross has now become the centre of. 
moral attraction for the universe. Under this banner the 
Church is called upon to go forth and subdue the world. 
Will she do it? Will the disciples of Jesus heed their 
glorious commission, and put their hands and their hearts 
to this work with resolute purpose? Will they give their 
sympathies, their prayers, their sons and their daughters, to 
carry forward this enterprise of heaven ? 

Oh ! if Christians but knew their privilege — if they con- 
sidered what is to give brightness to their crowns of rejoicing 
in the day of the Lord Jesus — what the peculiar glory of 
their heavenly inheritance — who, who would not count it all 
joy to bear a part in efforts to win the millions of perishing 
Hindus to Christ ? Who would not pour out his money 
like water, and lay his choicest treasures, najr, even life 
itself, if need be, at the foot of the cross, consecrated forever 
to this blessed work ? 

Oh ! that the Church of God in Christian lands would 
arise and shine, her light being come and the glory of the 
Lord being risen upon her. Why should this work be 
longer delayed ? Why must more than 2000 precious souls 
continue to go down to idolaters' graves every hour, not 
knowing that Jesus has died? The truth and promises of 
God are not wanting. The Church of Christ is not wanting 
in resources. She has men enough to supply the heathen 
world with the Gospel without delay. Let political or 
worldly motives offer, and the sons of the Church gather by 
thousands. When patriotism calls them to their country's 
service, are they ever found wanting? When political 



CONCLUSION. 427 

posts require filling in Europe, Asia, or the remotest islands 
of the ocean, are candidates sought for in vain ? When Dr. 
Hays calls for volunteers to penetrate the frozen regions of 
the polar seas, is his call unheard ? 

And is love to Christ and the souls of men a passion, even 
in sanctified hearts, less powerful than patriotism? Are 
worldly honors or worldly gain more attractive than the 
crown which filled the vision of the great Apostle, or the 
joy of winning the idolaters of India to Christ ? I do not 
believe it. I do not believe there is any deficiency of pious 
young men and women in our American churches, ready to 
engage in this enterprise. I believe there are thousands 
who would gladly volunteer to do service for Christ in 
India, were the Church prepared to sustain them. 

True, many missionaries have been cut down by the cli- 
mate and diseases of India, and others have been sent back 
broken in health and disabled for life. But it was only the 
traitor spies who complained of Canaan that it was " a land 
which eateth up the inhabitants thereof." Are true soldiers 
any less ready to volunteer when they hear that their breth- 
ren have fallen in battle? Missionaries sicken and die in 
India, and for this very reason it is that the strong young 
men of the Church should go in larger numbers to supply 
their places. If the Church would show any resolute pur- 
pose to evangelize India, she must greatly increase the num- 
ber of her laborers. Men laud the fearless navigator, ex- 
plorer, patriot. Is it noble to encounter peril in a worldly 
enterprise, but madness to suffer in the cause of Christ ? 
Is it glorious to die for one's king and country, and not 
glorious to die for Christ and the souls of the perishing 
heathen ? 

During the late terrific rebellion in India, Great Britain 
sent out some 100,000 men in a twelvemonth, to re-subju- 
gate the Hindus. At the close of that campaign she had 
more than 110,000 men whom she had sent out from Europe 
to her service in India. Why might she not send out as 
many soldiers of the cross to conquer India for Christ? 
And then if America would add but half their number, 



428 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

India would have a Christian minister to every thousand of 
her 200,000,000 idolaters. 

Some urge that we have heathen here at home as a 
reason for not doing more for India. And yet statistics de- 
clare that there is one minister of the Gospel to every 900 
of our population throughout the whole United States ; 
while in New England, with a total population of only 
3,000,000, are found 5000 ministers of the Gospel ! — one 
minister to every 600 people ; and these not a heathen people 
requiring to be evangelized for the first time, but possessing 
all the institutions of the Gospel, glowing with the light 
and love of heaven in active force among them. May I not 
ask, beloved brethren in America, to contrast these facts 
with the position of one lone missionary at Kolapoor, in a 
region of unbroken Hinduism, seventy miles deep in its 
shallowest point, and embracing millions of idolaters with 
no one else to care for their souls ! My brethren, will you 
not give us more men for India ? 

And ye sons of the Church, looking for posts where you 
may endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, 
where will you find a more needy or a more noble field 
than India ? If ye seek for ease, or wealth, or literary fame, 
or earthly good of any kind, then rest ye on these high 
places of Zion. Your surroundings here will be pleasant, 
and many a good man has coveted them before you. But 
if you would seek a field in which to do much to honor 
God — in which to live, and toil, and die, in efforts to win, 
souls to Christ — to raise the degraded and save the perish- 
ing, who but for you would never hear of Jesus — then 
come to India. A nobler field for Christian effort does not 
exist. " Let us go up at once and possess it" for Christ, for 
in his name and strength " we are well able to overcome it." 

Do you doubt whether resources will be furnished to sus- 
tain you in this work? The Church in America has money. 
She has ample resources to evangelize India in one short 
generation. It was ascertained a few years ago, that of the 
church members who make the American Board the chan- 
nel of their donations to foreign missions, each gives, on an 



CONCLUSION. 420 

average, only seventy -four cents a year! about lico mills a day! 
Now can it be that this measures the true ability of these 
professing Christians ? Is it in this proportion that they 
take shares in bank stocks, railroads, and electric tele- 
graphs ? 

One cent a day from each of these church members would 
bring into the treasury of the Board nearly a million and a 
quarter of dollars every year. And then if the hundreds of 
thousands who now give nothing through any channel were 
earnestly enlisted, the present means for prosecuting this 
work might be at once increased ten or twenty fold. And 
where can the disciples of Jesus invest their funds so safely 
and with such glorious increase as in this blessed enter- 
prise ? 

In one of our large cities are now the fragments of a firm, 
which, in 1856, found the splendid profits of their trade to 
be $1,300,000. The mind of the chief partner became dis- 
turbed by this rapid acquisition. Eeason staggered, lost 
her balance, and he soon became an inmate of a mad-house. 
In a few months he died, leaving wealth to the amount of 
$2,000,000. The financial crisis followed, and the firm be- 
came insolvent ! The acquisition and the insanity, the 
death and the insolvency, all occurred in the brief period 
of eighteen months. Now had love to Christ and the souls 
of the Hindus been strong enough in that man's heart to 
have drawn from him the half of his wealth as fast as ac- 
quired, who shall estimate the blessed result both to him- 
self and to precious souls saved in heaven ! 

Again, think of the more than $3,000,000 annually ex- 
pended in supporting the Christian institutions and home 
evangelizing agencies in the single State of .Massachusetts ; 
of the millions expended on the two hundred and fifteen 
evangelical churches in the city of New-York, and similar 
facts all over our Christian land ; and if we acknowledge 
the golden rule to be our law, must not larger streams of 
Christian beneficence flow out to heathen lands ? Must the 
dear children and youth who, by years of patient and perscr 
vering effort have been brought under the teaching and in- 



430 MISSION SCHOOLS, 

iluence of Christian truth at such a dark point as Kolapoor, 
be turned out again " into the great and terrible wilderness 
of heathenism," and the whole mission be abandoned for 
the triflng sum of $2000 a year ? 

Let no one imagine that a missionary is disposed to com- 
plain of his brethren for exjDending so much in support of 
the Gospel and Christian institutions at home. No, sup- 
port your schools and colleges, your churches, and pastors, 
and agencies for home evangelization. They are the glory 
and safeguard of your nation. Give to them — give largely. 
Let the munificence of your gifts attest the devotion of 
large, generous, noble, patriotic, and sanctified hearts. Oh ! 
if a sincere prayer ever goes up to heaven, it is that which 
ascends from the heart of every American missionary in 
the foreign field, for blessings on " his own, his native 
land." A twofold motive presses upon his heart. He loves 
the land that gave him birth, and can not repress an intense 
desire to see her banners wave brightest and purest among 
the nations. And then just in proportion as his soul groans 
at sight of the corruptions and debasement of heathenism, 
does he long and pray for the preservation and prosperity 
of the " Union," and for the purity and perpetuity of the 
Church and Christian institutions of America. As he longs 
to see healing streams flow hence more copiously to every 
dark land of the globe, so earnestly does he long and pray 
that this fountain-head may be kept pure. 

But if any disciple of Jesus withholds the Gospel from 
India that he may give more money to the benevolent and 
Christian institutions of his own land, he needs to be re- 
minded that "there is that giveth and yet increaseth," while 
" there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth 
to poverty." The reflex influence that has come back from 
foreign missions into the bosom of the Church, has already 
repaid her in tenfold measure for all she has given and 
done for this cause. If the Church in America would bring 
upon her own land a withering curse, let her withhold her 
money and her Christian sympathies from the heathen. 

Is it not time for those who have been bought with pre- 



CONCLUSION. 431 

cious blood to mark their resolute purpose to obey the last 
command of their dyiug Lord by pouring more adequate 
supplies into his treasury ? I believe the American churches 
are able to give much more largely for this work. I be- 
lieve they have resources sufficient to support every mis- 
sionary who will go, and every fit agency which can be 
pressed into this service. I have great faith in the piety 
and energy of our churches. If the wants and woes and 
claims of India were rightly understood and felt, I believe 
funds would flow in for this work as freely as they did of 
old for building the ark of God. 

I have great confidence in the sympathy of sanctified 
hearts. The generous sympathy of unsanctified hearts are 
among the noblest elements of man that have survived the 
fall. They gush out for every bleeding Hungary and 
down-trodden Poland. They freight ships for famishing 
Ireland, and cars for suffering Kansas. Let this sympathy 
be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire, and what 
may it not achieve in converting the world to Christ ? 

Oh ! if the eternal verities of God's word are not fictions, 
then must this Christian sympathy be an earnest, living 
reality. The millions of India must and will soon feel the 
power of this sympathy. Blest with the Christian agents 
and resources it will pour into her bosom, and touched with 
its vitalizing energy, gushing fresh from the sanctified 
hearts of these agents, India will soon rise redeemed, re-, 
generated, and saved ! 

I would have the Church of Christ press forward in this 
work with the joyful assurance of a speedy victory. We 
may confide in the promises of God. They are bright as his 
bow in the heavens — sure as his eternal throne. We may 
confide in the ivord and spirit of God. Divine truth has 
elements to subdue all hearts to Christ, 

We may confide in the resources of the Church. She has 
men and money enough to evangelize India in a single 
generation. 

We may rejoice and thank God for what past efforts have 
already achieved. These efforts have been few and weak, 



432 MISSION SCHOOLS. 

not at all in proportion to the ability of the Church or the 
magnitude of the work to be accomplished. And }^et re 
salts have followed, lasting as eternity, glorious as the 
crowns which are to adorn the brows of the redeemed. 

And yet, we may not rest satisfied with these results. A 
mighty conflict is still before us. More glorious triumphs 
are still to be achieved. What are the thirty or forty thou- 
sand converts gathered into our churches in India, to the 
nearly 200,000,000 still held in their cruel bondage? 
There is work here for the Church ! 

Ye young men and women whose hearts beat with high 
and holy purposes to do much for Christ, there is work for 
you in India ! 

Ye wealthy men who hold the treasures of the Lord in 
stewardship, there is work here for you ! 

And ye praying men and women, there is work here for 
you! for the conquest of India is to be achieved, "not by 
might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord" Oh! 
if there is a man on earth who feels the need and the value 
of prayer which prevails with Grod, it is your weak mission- 
ary struggling under the ever-increasing conviction of the 
magnitude of this work and of his own impotence. But, 
thank Grod, Hinduism is not invincible. The hardest and 
most depraved heart can be brought to yield to the power 
of divine truth and love. Let these elements blend more 
sweetly and effectively in all Christian hearts — let the tide 
of Christian sympathy, interest, prayer, and effort in this 
work of Grod rise high enough to swallow up all petty differ- 
ences of views, to remove all needless restrictions on the 
agencies employed— high enough to flow over all lands and 
submerge all hearts. Then shall India and. the world be 
Christ's, 

" And earth again, like Eden crowned, 
Bring forth the tree of life." 

fAPH.i5.T5il. I 



